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

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Ricco'

Ricco'

Aug 14, 2012
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Winnen said:
Echoes said:
According to this Sporza article which Renaat Schotte referred to during the live coverage of the race, he was on the Ventoux on the Saturday. It might be a mistake though. Apparently it was a tribute to Tom Simpson, 50 years after the tragedy.

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/1.3004829
Click to expand...

On friday he was.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1039612299
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Yes, friday he was there for sure, I saw that he started his journey very early on an Instagram story.

I just find this article which explains it nicely.

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20170617_02929379

He rode the parcours on friday (and added an extra 40 kilometres), was probably there yesterday at the beginning but didn't race.
 
B

barmaher

Oct 2, 2011
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Re: Re:

Echoes said:
barmaher said:
Great place in the calendar for a warm up pre-Tour.
Click to expand...

I hate to say but Christophe Impens of Golazo rather pointed to the proximity of the Belgian nats which will be raced on a similar flat cobbled course one week later while not referring to the Tour of France, thereby claiming it was indeed an ideal place in the calendar.

http://www.hln.be/regio/nieuws-uit-brugge/elfstedenronde-langs-smalle-wegen-a3068035/
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I know, I was just trying to be funny.
 
E

Echoes

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Mathieu was 4th at the Marathon Mountainbike World Championship. Knowing him he must be disappointed but it's a great result on a category that is probably less suited to him than cross country, methinks.


Next up for Mathieu is the Slag om Norg. This is a lovely race in Northern Netherlands (Drenthe) which I've followed quite closely since created in 2011. A dirt road kind of race, the Dutch answer to the Tro Bro Leon, so to speak. Back in the days, it was quite small in length and status, just a Dutch national race but since last year it's been promoted to 1.2 status and extended to 204km! (60 of them on gravel roads) It used to be held mid-August but now has been moved to early July. First edition it was a cyclocross sweep, the first 5 being cyclocrossers, Mike Teunissen won (4 Rabo offroad among them). Then cyclocrosser Gert-Jan Bosman won the second edition, actually he was top10 for the first 5 edition.

I'm glad to see how it is growing step by step every year. I really have a soft spot for that race. Hopefully it soon gets 1.1! :)

The organisers announced Mathieu's presence on 28th March and presented him as top favourite. Well I guess the race is just his to win.
http://www.slagomnorg.nl/vanderpoelstart

May I remind you my 2015 thread. ;) viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29972&p=1791177&hilit=Norg#p1791177
 
May0maniac

May0maniac

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That's a great result for him, this time the Marathon WC had a rather easy route and so it was a rather short race, but it's still a great result for him.
 
Ricco'

Ricco'

Aug 14, 2012
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Echoes said:
Mathieu was 4th at the Marathon Mountainbike World Championship. Knowing him he must be disappointed but it's a great result on a category that is probably less suited to him than cross country, methinks.


Next up for Mathieu is the Slag om Norg. This is a lovely race in Northern Netherlands (Drenthe) which I've followed quite closely since created in 2011. A dirt road kind of race, the Dutch answer to the Tro Bro Leon, so to speak. Back in the days, it was quite small in length and status, just a Dutch national race but since last year it's been promoted to 1.2 status and extended to 204km! (60 of them on gravel roads) It used to be held mid-August but now has been moved to early July. First edition it was a cyclocross sweep, the first 5 being cyclocrossers, Mike Teunissen won (4 Rabo offroad among them). Then cyclocrosser Gert-Jan Bosman won the second edition, actually he was top10 for the first 5 edition.

I'm glad to see how it is growing step by step every year. I really have a soft spot for that race. Hopefully it soon gets 1.1! :)

The organisers announced Mathieu's presence on 28th March and presented him as top favourite. Well I guess the race is just his to win.
http://www.slagomnorg.nl/vanderpoelstart

May I remind you my 2015 thread. ;) viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29972&p=1791177&hilit=Norg#p1791177
Click to expand...

Slag om Norg is a 1.1 race this year. At least, that's how the race is categorized on the UCI website and on PCS.

So, this means he isn't going to Vallnord for the XCO World Cup?
 
E

Echoes

Oct 8, 2009
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Thanks! I was absent-minded. Yes it's a 1.1 race this year. :) Amazing how fast it has grown in two years time. National race in 2015, 1.2 in 2016 and 1.1 this year.

I didn't know there was a Mountainbike World Cup event on the same day but I guess he's skipping it (shame for his ranking). In Het Nieuwsblad of last Monday he only talked about Andorra and Lenzerheide with respect to MTB World Cup.

With respect to your previous question, on Saturday last week he seemed to only have ridden the Tom Simpson Memorial (twice the Ventoux), so I guess no Granfondo. Overall he rode 60km that day. He then took the TGV to Lille where he arrived at 11pm but he was ready at 9am in Bruges on Sunday to race the Eleven Town Tour (Elfstedenronde). :D [so says Het Laatste News also last Monday]
 
K

Kokoso

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Echoes said:
Mathieu was 4th at the Marathon Mountainbike World Championship. Knowing him he must be disappointed but it's a great result on a category that is probably less suited to him than cross country, methinks.
Click to expand...
I'd say on the contrary - marathon MTB is more suited to him at this part of the year cause he's doing lot of road. And marathon MTB is more similar to road than to XC. Given his age it's probably great result, or very good at least. Nothing more was expected.
 
Ricco'

Ricco'

Aug 14, 2012
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Echoes said:
I didn't know there was a Mountainbike World Cup event on the same day but I guess he's skipping it (shame for his ranking). In Het Nieuwsblad of last Monday he only talked about Andorra and Lenzerheide with respect to MTB World Cup.
Click to expand...

Well, for now he is on the entrylist of the Vallnord event (starting with number 3). If he is serious about going for gold at the XCO Worlds, I don't see him skipping any event to not lose any points that could be crucial for a first row start.
 
Kwibus

Kwibus

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Ricco' said:
Echoes said:
I didn't know there was a Mountainbike World Cup event on the same day but I guess he's skipping it (shame for his ranking). In Het Nieuwsblad of last Monday he only talked about Andorra and Lenzerheide with respect to MTB World Cup.
Click to expand...

Well, for now he is on the entrylist of the Vallnord event (starting with number 3). If he is serious about going for gold at the XCO Worlds, I don't see him skipping any event to not lose any points that could be crucial for a first row start.
Click to expand...

He's skipping Slag om Norg and going for another MTB race.
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

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He says he was already blocking badly straight at the start, then recovered a bit, and then suddenly it was done. He has no clue what caused the off day.

However, it should be noted Mathieu had more of those off days in cyclocross as well, when he suddenly doesn't turn up and end 25th or something. And then the next race he's ok again. I'm not too concerned
 
Ricco'

Ricco'

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Probably affected by altitude, I don't think he is very used to race at 2000m. He started fast, was first at the first corner, but then simply didn't have the speed to match the others on the uphill sections.

I had already wondered if he don't need to rest anytime soon. After a very busy and demanding cross season he only did like 2 months of rest and after that he has been on the top (either winning road races against the likes of Gilbert, or winning MTB marathons, fighting for the podium at the WCh and challenging Schurter on the XCO World Cups). He is human too after all, the fatigue must keep up with him some day, and he probably needs to rest a couple weeks of more if he intends to start the cross season fresh.
 
May0maniac

May0maniac

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Re:

Ricco' said:
Probably affected by altitude, I don't think he is very used to race at 2000m. He started fast, was first at the first corner, but then simply didn't have the speed to match the others on the uphill sections.

I had already wondered if he don't need to rest anytime soon. After a very busy and demanding cross season he only did like 2 months of rest and after that he has been on the top (either winning road races against the likes of Gilbert, or winning MTB marathons, fighting for the podium at the WCh and challenging Schurter on the XCO World Cups). He is human too after all, the fatigue must keep up with him some day, and he probably needs to rest a couple weeks of more if he intends to start the cross season fresh.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's what he said, the altitude was a problem for him.
 
E

Echoes

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It's vintage Mathieu. He is not afraid of overtraining. When the Koksijde cross was cancelled due to heavy wind, he capitalised on it to do a 208km ride from Koksijde back to his own Kappelen, along with brother David.

I'm not sure he's exhausted though. Two month holiday after the cross season is normal for a cyclocrosser and his road agenda is the classic road agenda for cyclocrossers with the Tour of Belgium and the Boucles de la Mayenne. Niels Albert did it too at the same age and also with excellent results. He rode for the same team BKCP/Beobank. Only Mathieu is adding or dropping some road races to race mountainbike at the highest level but I guess he's got class enough to do it. He's one of a kind, not like any other cyclocrosser. I think he can manage that. ;) The altitude seems like a more plausible explanation to me. ;)
 
J

jmdirt

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I like that MvP has struggled. Not because I want to see him do poorly, I don't because I like the kid, but because its a good message to those who think this dirt thing is easy. I have no doubt that if MvP wants to do well on the dirt he can, but it will take work and focus. He's young and amazingly talented, he can do a lot in cycling, but maybe not everything at once.
 
Ricco'

Ricco'

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I still think he has to rest. Going from road to XCM to XCO in a couple of weekend is tough.

Now he will have some time to rest before the second part of the summer. Based on last years, he can do the Tour de Alsace, and if so, I'm curious to see what he can do on Planche des Belles Filles.
 
E

Echoes

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Tours of Alsace and of the Limousin are on his agenda, at least were still after the Elfstedenronde but I've also heard he intended to drop a few road races at the benefit of mountainbike. Is he scheduled to race the MTB nats next Sunday in Landgraaf?

Tour of Alsace is within Mathieu's reach at least for stage win and a GC top10. He's already won a stage beyond the Ballons. It's a classic for Roodhooft's teams BKCP/Beobank. Niels Albert has also done very well in the past there. So did Lubomir Petrus among others. :)
 
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