Teams & Riders The "MVP" Mathieu Van der Poel Road Discussion Thread

[Links2003]

The Dauphine currently shows why it is particularly difficult for outstanding riders to win if they can't simply ride away on the climbs or if the terrain is so selective that you can get away well with attacks. VdP was in the sprint yesterday, he was in the group all day today and in the first stage with the classification riders when they attacked.

Many also say with other riders like Roglic, then he should just go in groups. That's what the other riders rarely want. Then they only look at one rider. And when the groups are as big as they were today and others are even better on the climbs, then it's super difficult even for someone like VdP to take the win.

 

[jono]

Pretty decent TT for a non-specialist, non-GC rider.

 

[saunaking]

Yeah, glad to see he tried too. Wonder if he can make the break tomorrow and take yellow.
Bet he tries

 

[Hugh Januss]

Yeah, glad to see he tried too. Wonder if he can make the break tomorrow and take yellow.
Bet he tries

Not at all sure he will be let into any more breaks.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The only team capable of preventing MVDP going into the break is Visma imo. Neither UAE nor the steppers seems strong enough to control the action at this time. Stage 5 could be a cracker.

 

[Muren]

That was impressive by MVDP. Results so far in DL: 3-3-5-6

Can we get a 1 tomorrow?

 

[Reemster]

Not at all sure he will be let into any more breaks.

Why would anyone care?

 

[dazaau]

Why would anyone care?

The big teams don't care, the rest can't control so good chance he makes the break if he really wants it.

 

[Muren]

Well, well, well that might explain the good tt yesterdagy.
MVDP has been training on the tt bike!!! What is happening?!

From Het Nieuwsblad:

With a sixth place, VDP exceeded expectations, but he did not want to call it a real surprise. “I had hoped to ride in the top ten, so I am happy with the result. For the first time in my life, I started working a bit on the time trial bike. It is nice that it pays off immediately. We have worked on the position on the bike after the spring and I have also ridden more hours on the time trial bike. In the past, I have already been in the situation a few times to really compete for the classification, so I finally wanted to invest time in the time trial.”

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20250611_96424284

He also has some humor:

“When I was in Spain, I sent Remco a picture of my time trial bike as a joke. I asked him if I could finish within a minute behind him during the time trial in the Dauphiné.” That didn’t quite work out: Van der Poel ended up… 1:01 behind an unleashed Evenepoel. “It didn’t quite work out, huh? I think I lost that second yesterday in the breakaway. We bet for nothing, but maybe we can make a new bet before the Tour. Then the time trial will be twice as long, so I’ll have to finish within two minutes behind him?”

I say he makes under two minutes!

 

[Didinho]

“When I was in Spain, I sent Remco a picture of my time trial bike as a joke. I asked him if I could finish within a minute behind him during the time trial in the Dauphiné.” That didn’t quite work out: Van der Poel ended up… 1:01 behind an unleashed Evenepoel. “It didn’t quite work out, huh? I think I lost that second yesterday in the breakaway. We bet for nothing, but maybe we can make a new bet before the Tour. Then the time trial will be twice as long, so I’ll have to finish within two minutes behind him?”

After Mathieu’s finish Remco immediately said “1:01, I would’ve caught you right at the finish line”.