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

[Ricco']

Just checked, but apparently his win really changed his mind a little. If he is indeed going to the European Championships, he will miss the MTB World Cup leg of Mont Sainte Anne in Canada, which takes place in the same day.

Let's see if his mind changes once again if he manages to win in Val di Sole or Vallnord.

 

[classicomano]

He's also doing the Arctic Race Of Norway now, was this always the plan? Seems like hes improvising his road schedule now after all the recent succes. Hopefully he starts getting a real taste for it.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Yes, the Arctic Race was in his schedule before the nationals win

 

[classicomano]

Re:

Yes, the Arctic Race was in his schedule before the nationals win

Ok thanks for clarifying. That's another very interesting race for him.

 

[Ricco']

Van der Poel just demolished Schurter on the Val di Sole Short Track race. 12 seconds advantage is huge.

 

[tobydawq]

A pity he doesn't ride Tour of Denmark. That could have been a pretty awesome showdown with Van Aert.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

Van der Poel just demolished Schurter on the Val di Sole Short Track race. 12 seconds advantage is huge.

yep. those 30s uphill sprints were astonishing :surprised:
Nino told in the post-int that he tried not to give much energy away before Sunday but imho it really looked like he was hurting during those MVP's attacks.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

A pity he doesn't ride Tour of Denmark. That could have been a pretty awesome showdown with Van Aert.

i think he set himself a goal for the next olympic xco so he needs to get as many world cup xco races as possible...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

3rd in the race, a minute behind Schurter. Not bad. I feel he's at a clear disadvantage climbing wise though, Schurter seems much less weight

 

[jmdirt]

He's a pretty rare dude who can do well on pretty much any type of bike/course. Probably also rare in his willingness/desire to ride several disciplines.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He won the Dutch MTB championship today.

This means he is now the holder of 3 Dutch titles at the same time. Cyclocross, Road and MTB.

Next road race is the European Championships in Glasgow.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

He won the Dutch MTB championship today.

This means he is now the holder of 3 Dutch titles at the same time. Cyclocross, Road and MTB.

Next road race is the European Championships in Glasgow.

So no MTB ECH in Glasgow? Lame.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

No, he is riding the MTB race as well. He is riding both, to be clear.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

No, he is riding the MTB race as well. He is riding both, to be clear.

Cool, that's more like him :lol:

 

[jmdirt]

STUD!

 

[IndianCyclist]

The only problem is why is he not trying the cobbled classics. He is more talented than Van Aert

 

[jaylew]

Re:

The only problem is why is he not trying the cobbled classics. He is more talented than Van Aert

Because he's prioritizing Mtb and the Olympics along with cross, while Wout prioritizes the cobbled classics along with cross. I'd also rather see him doing more road than Mtb as I don't care about the latter but MVP wants to go to the Olympics, he enjoys the dirt, and sometimes finds road racing a bit boring.

 

[Echoes]

If ever Mathieu switches to road, would he really be a cobbled specialist? I would rather see him race hilly races. Even if he won last year's Hageland ahead of Van der Hoorn and Wout. That's what he did best as novice and junior. Wout and Mathieu don't have the same morphology. I'm not sure they would be arch rivals if they were both to race road.

 

[classicomano]

If he bosses the European Championships im sure theres gonna be some bigger shift towards the road.

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

The only problem is why is he not trying the cobbled classics. He is more talented than Van Aert

Was his team invited?

 

[DNP-Old]

If ever Mathieu switches to road, would he really be a cobbled specialist? I would rather see him race hilly races. Even if he won last year's Hageland ahead of Van der Hoorn and Wout. That's what he did best as novice and junior. Wout and Mathieu don't have the same morphology. I'm not sure they would be arch rivals if they were both to race road.

Not for a second would I be worried about Mathieu and the cobbles. He is too technically gifted and has too big an engine not to be a star in that department. That said, I wouldn't declare him a specialist in either, because he is a specialist in everything. Cobbles, hills, actual climbs, prologues, sprints... The only thing we are yet to see him boss are long time trials.

 

[Pennino]

If ever Mathieu switches to road, would he really be a cobbled specialist? I would rather see him race hilly races. Even if he won last year's Hageland ahead of Van der Hoorn and Wout. That's what he did best as novice and junior. Wout and Mathieu don't have the same morphology. I'm not sure they would be arch rivals if they were both to race road.

Not for a second would I be worried about Mathieu and the cobbles. He is too technically gifted and has too big an engine not to be a star in that department. That said, I wouldn't declare him a specialist in either, because he is a specialist in everything. Cobbles, hills, actual climbs, prologues, sprints... The only thing we are yet to see him boss are long time trials.

Wel he usually rides an ITT of more or less an hour almost every week-end in the winter. At litterally every cyclocross he sprints from the gun to take/keep race lead at the first corner and is basically out of sight for the rest of the event, with on some days Wout Van Aert glued to his wheel. I'm not 100% sure, but I guess there are less gifted TT'ers out there.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Van Aert has more raw power though. Van der Poel makes up with explositivity and technical skills.

On the road I think that translates to Van Aert being better at TT's and solo efforts while Van der Poel is very much like Sagan.

 

[Pennino]

Re:

Van Aert has more raw power though. Van der Poel makes up with explositivity and technical skills.

On the road I think that translates to Van Aert being better at TT's and solo efforts while Van der Poel is very much like Sagan.

Agree, but let's say Van Aert has an extraterrestrial engine. Out of the normal human beings VDP is right up there, I believe.

 

[Flamin]

If ever Mathieu switches to road, would he really be a cobbled specialist? I would rather see him race hilly races. Even if he won last year's Hageland ahead of Van der Hoorn and Wout. That's what he did best as novice and junior. Wout and Mathieu don't have the same morphology. I'm not sure they would be arch rivals if they were both to race road.

Not for a second would I be worried about Mathieu and the cobbles. He is too technically gifted and has too big an engine not to be a star in that department. That said, I wouldn't declare him a specialist in either, because he is a specialist in everything. Cobbles, hills, actual climbs, prologues, sprints... The only thing we are yet to see him boss are long time trials.

We haven't seen Mathieu boss anything on the road so far on top level (obviously because his focus was not on it). Yes he is super talented and he could do well on different terrain, but the thing is, and I think Echoes was also on to this, he'll have to specialize sooner or later so in what will he specialize? I'm not sure either.