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

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Re: Re:

glassmoon said:
But I guess, he'll eventually end up as a full-time road pro - with those performances and age. Maybe as soon as 2018 season.
Great talent.

Mathieu will be a full time crosser from September on with Worlds as main objective + the ranking events (probably he'll skip US World Cup events though). When he heard that Van Aert planned to cut his agenda down to 30 crosses he said it wouldn't change anything because he's also racing 30 days anyway. So how can you expect him to be full time on the road in 2018 (at World Tour level?)? Last time he just said he considered emulating Wout on some testing on the classics even within the team who considers applying for ProConti status but that's it and again his going back to mountainbike is an indication that he's not ready to switch to the road.

Riccò said:
The races probably have some influence on that but the main reason for the knee surgeries were the crashes, mainly the one he had on Avenir'2015, which I believe was the first surgery. Then the other 2 were related to that issue (I think the 2nd one was due to overcompensation on his other knee and the 3rd was on the 1st knee again).

What are your sources for that? I have an article from De Morgen (August 24 2016) which claimed that the 2016 knee surgeries were unrelated to the 2015 one which is consecutive of the crash at the Tour of the Future. Also when he addressed the Nys criticism who considered him too playful and not enough dedicated to his sport Mathieu said that the knee injuries were testament of the fact that he trained hard to test his limits and push them off.
 
I think mvp will have a Vos moment in a few years and if he doesnt stop doing everything soon it might come sooner than later.

He likes cross and mtb too much to stop and he doesnt really like road racing to fully commit to it.

He has the potential to be a star, but I dont think he will be one. On the road that is.
 
Re:

Ricco' said:
Does anyone have full access to this article and can publish it in here?

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20170602_02910560

From what I understand from the short preview, he plans to focus fully on Tokyo 2020. But hell, in 2020 he could target the gold on the road and on MTB at the same time. :D

Not related, but is there some talk of him doing Avenir this year, like in 2015?
In the preview it says that the initial plan was to focus more on road racing as from 2019. However, with him doing so good on the MTB, he's questioning that, as in ''Why wouldn't I go Tokio on the MTB?''. He won't ride l'Avenir, won't ride the national- nor world championships either.
 
Short summary of that article:
He was not surprised to win a stage in Tour of Belgium, his second place in the Albstadt was more of a surprise. He wants to do mountainbike again this year, because he was frustrated of his 2016 season where he was hindered by his knee injury. He likes mountainbike (climbing, more variety, ...) more than road racing.

No national championship on the road for him because it conflicts with the World Championship Marathon (MTB), and he would love to ride the World Championship on the road in September, but that will be impossible because of his cyclocross schedule (World Cup in USA). So this shows cyclocross remains the priority, also because of his sponsors.

The plan was to fully commit to road racing in 2019, but his recent performances in MTB may change that. He wants to go for Tokyo 2020, although he's not 100% sure yet.
 
Why should he have to move to the road?? Does anybody think any less of Nys because he never made the move full time to the road?
If the other disciplines were run & promoted properly then there would be no need. The XCO World Cup has 6 rounds - thats nowhere near enough - the UCI should be doing more for the non road disciplines. And I say that as someone who watches the road more than the other disciplines.
The UCI are just like the FiA who concentrate far too much on F1 as opposed to the other series they run.
 
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Re:

Axel Hangleck said:
Why should he have to move to the road?? Does anybody think any less of Nys because he never made the move full time to the road?
If the other disciplines were run & promoted properly then there would be no need. The XCO World Cup has 6 rounds - thats nowhere near enough - the UCI should be doing more for the non road disciplines. And I say that as someone who watches the road more than the other disciplines.
The UCI are just like the FiA who concentrate far too much on F1 as opposed to the other series they run.

Nys was, especially when you compare it to van der Poel, kinda sh*t on the road. People tend to like road racing more as well, hence them wanting Mathieu to focus on it. In the end he should just do whatever he pleases.
 
Nr. 3. Flat sprint this time. EZ :)

fe4449c4c5.jpg
 
Oct 23, 2011
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Don't forget this guy would be competing for the win in the Tour de l'Avenir if he wanted :p

I remember, I think it was after he lost a sprint in a cyclocross in a weird way, maybe a year or two ago, he said he never really practiced sprinting before, because he rarely had to sprint. Since then his sprinting has been top notch as all his other skills already were. :p
 
I hate to say but what I predicted last Autumn seems to prove correct. :redface:

For sure the stage victory at the Tour of Belgium was expected given the depleted field and also you can expect a multi-talented crosser to win the Boucles de la Mayenne. In 2007 Niels Albert was 3rd in that stage race. In 2009 he won the prologue after having animated the Ardennes stage of the Tour of Belgium and before performing at the Circuito Montañes. Mathieu being a greater talent than Albert, you can expect certainly expect more of him on those races. Yet Albert never switched to the road while he's been pressured to do so and had outstanding results in the junior and U23 categories on the road. The mountainbike results however were much less expected. It's great for off-road cycling fans. It could however be weird for a rider who is a lot more talented than his father that his palmares should in any case be less prestigious but well cyclocross is now a lot more prestigious and rewarding than it was back in Adrie's era. :)
 
Re: Re:

classicomano said:
Ricco' said:
What's next for him? Ronde van Limburg next weekend?

I can't seem to find a provisional startlist and I can't find the official website, but Beobank has always been there with him since 2014, so I guess why not.
This according to PCM.

9123e84b99.png

I know, but Ronde van Limburg isn't updated on PCS, so I thought anyone might know if there's a startlist available somewhere. :)
 
Re: Re:

Ricco' said:
classicomano said:
Ricco' said:
What's next for him? Ronde van Limburg next weekend?

I can't seem to find a provisional startlist and I can't find the official website, but Beobank has always been there with him since 2014, so I guess why not.
This according to PCM.

9123e84b99.png

I know, but Ronde van Limburg isn't updated on PCS, so I thought anyone might know if there's a startlist available somewhere. :)
He made no mention of this race when he was discussing his 2017 road program so, I guess not.
 
Re:

Axel Hangleck said:
Why should he have to move to the road?? Does anybody think any less of Nys because he never made the move full time to the road?
If the other disciplines were run & promoted properly then there would be no need. The XCO World Cup has 6 rounds - thats nowhere near enough - the UCI should be doing more for the non road disciplines. And I say that as someone who watches the road more than the other disciplines.
The UCI are just like the FiA who concentrate far too much on F1 as opposed to the other series they run.
I would love to see the XCO World Cup be 15 rounds!
 

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