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

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He kinda bossed the Dutch national championships though. It took a top effort from Terpstra to finally catch 'his' break, and then he still outsprinted what was left (van Poppel/Sinkeldam and co, since it was already too hard for Groenewegen)

 

[Flamin]

Re:

He kinda bossed the Dutch national championships though. It took a top effort from Terpstra to finally catch 'his' break, and then he still outsprinted what was left (van Poppel/Sinkeldam and co, since it was already too hard for Groenewegen)

From what I've heard, that was indeed impressive, although not a top level race. I have no doubt of course that he can do it on the highest level as well, just wondering in what races. Ronde? Roubaix? Liège? Maybe also in stage races?

 

[Bardamu]

Re:

He kinda bossed the Dutch national championships though. It took a top effort from Terpstra to finally catch 'his' break, and then he still outsprinted what was left (van Poppel/Sinkeldam and co, since it was already too hard for Groenewegen)

As impressive as it was, the Dutch nationals are quite a joke most of the time.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I know, but the ease and manner of victory, and the way he beat Van Aert a couple of times in road races last year, makes me think he can do well in top level races already. We'll see at the European Championships. I don't expect he can beat the likes of Sagan and GvA, but he won't be too far off if he's on a good day

 

[jmdirt]

http://wideanglepodium.com/episode-116-mathieu-van-der-poel-christopher-blevins/

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

 

[Ricco']

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

We will never know for sure until 2020.

Maybe they did renew him in a Savio move, so if some big WT team wants him for 2021, they will have to spend some big money to break his contract.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I don't think so. I think he genuinely dislikes road racing (too boring) so he will never fully go for it an entire season.

 

[Echoes]

Terrific news! Great for cyclocross and for race organisers here in Belgium.

Some way, though, I feel like Mathieu is a bit lacking the mental toughness and patience to train hard for top road work and regret it a little. He just wants to have fun while his father who was much less talented than him was known as a training beast and will always have a better palmares than him. But given the current state of World Tour road cycling (in my own opinion, though, not his), I can only feel glad with this news. He may just keep on doing cyclocross, 1.1 Belgian/Dutch road races and mountainbike.

Just got an idea: Why not put him on the track? :idea:

 

[Ruudz0r]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Not sure if you mean till 2023 or in general but if its the latter: http://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/387215/van-der-poel-ziet-zichzelf-niet-als-tourwinnaar-niet-voor-mij-weggelegd.html

He says he wants to ride the TOur but doesnt see himself as a possible GC guy

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Not sure if you mean till 2023 or in general but if its the latter: http://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/387215/van-der-poel-ziet-zichzelf-niet-als-tourwinnaar-niet-voor-mij-weggelegd.html

He says he wants to ride the TOur but doesnt see himself as a possible GC guy

He'll be 28/29, Firmin Lambot won his first Tour at the very young age of 34. Horner won his first Vuelta at...Uhm I can't count taht high but you get my point.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

These contracts can be bought out surely. If he changes his mind, teams will line up and hapily buy Corendon out of the deal. So if he changes his mind, he should still be able to shift towards a full road carreer.

The thing is, like Sagan, he likes to have fun, but unlike Sagan, he seems unable to put a loss into perspective as much. When things don't go his way, he becomes his own worst enemy. This was very clear in the past 3 WC he lost against Van Aert. The one before that, it was Van Aert that had a mechanical, but he kept fighting till the end in the background and came back to +/- 20 seconds i think to take silver. The year after that, Mathieu's foot got stuck in Wout's wheel, they both had to start an insane chase, but Mathieu just "gave up", while Wout fought for every meter and chased down Van der Haar. Again this year, you could just see him giving up, getting passed by Vantourenhout, having to recover in order to take bronze. This is Mathieu's biggest weakness imo. As a kid, he never learned how to lose. And i think he fears this might happen more than he might want to cope with on the road. I think that might be a factor. While Wout had to eat Mathieu's dust year after year, he might have grown to be mentally stronger (before they turned 16 or 17, Wout was the smaller, skinnier one as well).

Mathieu might not think it is worth to make so many sacrifices for one, two or three big goals per year, possibly not winning any of those.

 

[jaylew]

Where are you guys seeing 2023? The Cyclingnews article says he renewed to 2020 with the team looking to move to Pro Conti and then he's focusing on the road after the 2020 Olympics so not too much different from Wout.

 

[glassmoon]

What a dull lap design (MTB) at Euro CH.. At least it appears that way during the women's race.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

What a dull lap design (MTB) at Euro CH.. At least it appears that way during the women's race.

I don't normally follow MTB races, mainly because they're not braodcasted here, but it is normal for a motorbike to ride over the course 30 seconds ahead of the race leader?

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

What a dull lap design (MTB) at Euro CH.. At least it appears that way during the women's race.

Cathkin is pretty crap. I know they've made some additions so I should have a look at the new layout but you could ride the old course on an 80mm HT no problem.

 

[King Boonen]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Will that work? There doesn't seem to be the hype around him on the road that their is around WVA (probably unfairly) so I'm not sure they're likely to get any invites are they?

 

[Ricco']

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Will that work? There doesn't seem to be the hype around him on the road that their is around WVA (probably unfairly) so I'm not sure they're likely to get any invites are they?

He is a huuge name in Belgium. Certainly E3, GW, Omloop and even Ronde wouldn't let him out of the start line. Much more attractive that teams like Vital Concept or Veranclassic.

The moment he announces that he will do the big races the hype will start, I'm sure of that. After all, yesterday this news was highlighted on the front page of Cyclingnews.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Will that work? There doesn't seem to be the hype around him on the road that their is around WVA (probably unfairly) so I'm not sure they're likely to get any invites are they?

As i recall, Van Aert was unsure for a very long time, whether or not he'd be invited. The hype you speak of, only took off during the spring. I think in februari, he still didn't know if he could ride Paris Roubaix or not. Correct me if i'm wrong. I had the impression at the time his performances in the "smaller" races are what got him an invitation. If Mathieu doesn't want to ride Roubaix, but rather do Amstel and RVV, that the chances of him getting invited, are pretty good. He's a much bigger name in Belgium and at home, than he is in France.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Little chance of a real road career.

MvdP renewed up until 2023 with Corendon.
They will probably apply for PCT so he can ride the classics. But any chance of a full time road career is, in my opinion, gone now. We won't see him in grand tours or anything. Only spring classics.

Will that work? There doesn't seem to be the hype around him on the road that their is around WVA (probably unfairly) so I'm not sure they're likely to get any invites are they?

As i recall, Van Aert was unsure for a very long time, whether or not he'd be invited. The hype you speak of, only took off during the spring. I think in februari, he still didn't know if he could ride Paris Roubaix or not. Correct me if i'm wrong. I had the impression at the time his performances in the "smaller" races are what got him an invitation. If Mathieu doesn't want to ride Roubaix, but rather do Amstel and RVV, that the chances of him getting invited, are pretty good. He's a much bigger name in Belgium and at home, than he is in France.

He's the grandson of one of the most popular French riders ever...Don't forget that.

 

[King Boonen]

Fair enough, thanks folks.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

That may very well be, but if you were to ask the average French guy on the street who MVP is, i think positive responses would be a fraction of what they 'd be in Belgium and the Netherlands. They don't follow cyclocross, they don't care about the road races he wins.

But sure, as far as creating hype in France, that's certainly the way to go. I also think Wout winning his third WC in a row, helped a bit. If Matthieu takes the CX WC next year, some doors might open just a little bit easier. I don't think he'll have too much trouble getting invited to the races he wants to enter. He'll surely get invites for the Belgian spring classics, and if (when) he makes a good impression, other invites will come.

 

[Echoes]

At least the local French cycling fan already knows him and he's already been hyped as Poulidor's grandson and even as Adrie's son after winning stages at the Tour of Alsace. Besides, he speaks French almost perfectly. Even better than many French people do . This being said, Mathieu does not need to race Paris-Roubaix and I still believe he's more suited to hilly classics (Tour of Flanders included).

Mathieu's road performances are equally as hyped as Wout's are, here in Belgium (Hageland, Tour of Belgium, etc). Don't forget that he beat him more often than not and he was a road talent as a junior, unlike Wout.

 

[glassmoon]

Looks like he's not having his best day... Getting distanced already
(24s back after Lap1)

 

[Lexman]

Re:

Where are you guys seeing 2023? The Cyclingnews article says he renewed to 2020 with the team looking to move to Pro Conti and then he's focusing on the road after the 2020 Olympics so not too much different from Wout.

don't knwo for 2023 but next year his team will have to improve and expand drastically to be able to participate in classics...curious to see how it works out a merger with Veranda's Willems perhaps if Aqua Bleu doesn't work out?