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

[spalco]

^^
Olympics obviously, no?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think that's what he said indeed (but i got distracted).

 

[KZD]

Next season in terms of goals should be:
Cyclo cross WC
Classics (Ronde+Paris Roubaix+Amstel?)
XCO Olympics
XCO WC

A Tour debut in 2021 makes perfect sense

 

[LPP68!]

Another title for Matthieu van der Poel. He just won the European MTB Championship. And how. He crashed from the lead in the first lap, overtook everyone in front of him in a lap or 2, and left everybody far behind. In the end he had over a minute on the competition.

 

[Black Betsy]

Nice win today, despite a nasty crash. Nice ride Dutch dude, Milan Vader.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Mathieu van der Poel ist ein radsportlicher Alleskönner mit berühmten Vorfahren | NZZ

Der Niederländer gewinnt Velorennen im Quer, auf der Strasse – und jetzt auch noch im Mountainbike. Dass van der Poel quasi auswählen kann, wann und in welcher Disziplin er reüssieren will, ist seiner vielseitigen Ausbildung geschuldet.

www.nzz.ch

Nice article by the Suisse people.

Nino Schurter had some nice quote in there as well

Am Sonntag gewann er zum zweiten Mal ein Weltcup-Rennen in der einzigen olympischen Bike-Disziplin Crosscountry, zweieinhalb Monate nach dem ersten Mal. Wie van der Poel jeweils angriff, wie er Schurter davonfuhr, war imposant. «Ich habe noch keinen Fahrer erlebt, der so antritt wie er», sagte Schurter diese Woche in einem Interview mit dem «Tages-Anzeiger». «Er ist derzeit der beste Velofahrer der Welt.»

A reference to this article:

«Er ist derzeit der beste Velofahrer der Welt»

Nino Schurter spricht über seinen grössten Konkurrenten. Und warum seine Tochter gegen ihn Rennen fahren will.

www.tagesanzeiger.ch

Aber beeindruckend war es auch für Sie?
Ich habe noch keinen Fahrer erlebt, der so antritt wie er. Das ist eindrücklich, ja. Er kann über 30, 40 Sekunden Vollgas geben, und inzwischen schafft er das auch nach eineinhalb Rennstunden in der Schlussrunde noch. Letztes Jahr konnte ich ihn oft in Schach halten, weil ich nach dem Start hart attackiert habe. Das ist meine einzige Chance. Oder ich versuche, ihn zu Fehlern zu zwingen. Wer solch schnelle Muskelfasern hat wie er, ist meistens in der Ausdauer nicht so stark. In diesem Jahr zeigt sich aber, dass er beides draufhat. Wenn er einen so guten Tag hat wie in Val Di Sole, ist er nicht zu schlagen.
Absalon oder Van der Poel – gegen wen ist es anstrengender?
Es ist einfacher, sich am Gegner festzubeissen und zu wissen, dass man auf einer harten letzten Runde oder im Sprint stärker ist als er. Absalon war noch extremer als ich, er hatte noch langsamere Muskelfasern, war dafür in der Ausdauerleistung besser als Van der Poel oder ich. Solange ich mich an sein Hinterrad hängen konnte, wusste ich, dass ich ihn schlage. Van der Poel macht jetzt dasselbe mit mir. Auch wenn ich – das sehe ich in den Short Races – weiterhin zu den explosivsten Fahrern zähle.
Auch mit 33 noch?
Ich glaube nicht, dass das eine Frage des Alters ist. Van der Poel und ich würden uns auf dieselbe Weise duellieren, wenn wir gleich alt wären. Dass er aber nicht nur auf dem Mountainbike Weltklasse ist, sondern auch im Radquer, und er gleichzeitig mit den weltbesten Sprintern mithalten kann, zeigt einfach, wie gut er ist. Er ist derzeit der beste Velofahrer der Welt.

Says he never met a guy who can accelerate like him and still have the endurance to be with the best after 1h30 in mtb. He says the only chance for him to win now is to attack early and force him into a mistake like last year. But he says when he has a day like last week he is nearly impossible to beat.

 

[EganArley]

He is untouchable.... its like he`s racing against amateurs.

 

[KZD]

If he keeps this shape until the World Championships he will get at least a medal

 

[Noddy97]

Jumbo should try to sign him. Dutch cycling is surrounded by the best cyclists in the world right now. Seriously, I really can see dumoulin winning le tour and Mathieu winning in san remo/flanders/roubaix.

 

[jmdirt]

Freak!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Absolute unit

 

[jaylew]

Most talented bike rider in the world

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Not surprising in this field tbh. Don't want to start taking whatever victory for granted, but he's clearly in great form (coming out of MTB) so it didn't come as a shock that he beat... Van Poppel (for instance). I'm waiting for the WC though. Really wondering if anybody can keep him from the rainbow jersey.

 

[Tonton]

Between him, Remco, Egan and a few others (I really like Gaudu), the future of the sport looks bright. What a rider!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Shame he got sick. Tbh I think the 3km climb was too hard from what I saw from it. But now we don't know what his limit actually is there compared to last year.
I think he would have finished in the top 10 without illness.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Shame he got sick. Tbh I think the 3km climb was too hard from what I saw from it. But now we don't know what his limit actually is there compared to last year.
I think he would have finished in the top 10 without illness.

Yes, he needs to get this out of the way so he knows and can focus on what he likes most. (Which i hope for his sake won't be GC)

 

[Flamin]

Yes, he needs to get this out of the way so he knows and can focus on what he likes most. (Which i hope for his sake won't be GC)

What would he 'know' though? Testing yourself on a murito against a mediocre field is hardly representative as to whether it's worth switching focus to GC or not.

And I'm pretty sure what he likes most. It's not riding for GC

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

What would he 'know' though? Testing yourself on a murito against a mediocre field is hardly representative as to whether it's worth switching focus to GC or not.

And I'm pretty sure what he likes most. It's not riding for GC

He has never done it, how would he know. Testing yourself on a 3.5k climb, when in shape (but over GC weight) against a mediocre field could still give him an idea.
I also think GC is nothing for him, but he still needs to rule it out. If only not to regret never trying/finding out later on.

 

[Flamin]

He has never done it, how would he know. Testing yourself on a 3.5k climb, when in shape (but over GC weight) against a mediocre field could still give him an idea.
I also think GC is nothing for him, but he still needs to rule it out. If only not to regret never trying/finding out later on.

Everyone knows what it takes to become a GC rider: lose (in his case, a lot of) weight, live like a monk, only think about saving energy during the race etc.. Basically the complete opposite of what he has been doing so far in his career.

At some point, he'll have to decide for himself if that's what he wants to do. Since he signed through 2023 with Corendon, I'm inclined to say he's not interested at all in the coming years. A good or bad performance on a hill in Norway back in 2019 is not going to be a factor in what he'll eventually go for. And like you said, he's over GC weight (and I'd say he's way over) anyway.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't understand what the flying *** the obsession is with VdP being a GC rider.

He should focus on being a world class classics rider and sprinter/stage hunter. Sacrificing all that to maybe be a good GC rider makes no sense at all

 

[Flamin]

I don't understand what the flying *** the obsession is with VdP being a GC rider.

He should focus on being a world class classics rider and sprinter/stage hunter. Sacrificing all that to maybe be a good GC rider makes no sense at all

Logic brought it up Nah but I haven't seen any obsession around MVDP about GC. Just the occassional talk (mostly fed by the media) like with Cancellara in the past.

Of course it doesn't make sense. If guys like MVDP and Alaphilippe become GC riders before having tried to win all classics, I might as well walk away from cycling.

 

[Red Rick]

Logic brought it up Nah but I haven't seen any obsession around MVDP about GC. Just the occassional talk (mostly fed by the media) like with Cancellara in the past.

Of course it doesn't make sense. If guys like MVDP and Alaphilippe become GC riders before having tried to win all classics, I might as well walk away from cycling.

"This man has won 4 of the 5 monuments. But he can't top 5 Algarve, what a 3rd rate rider"

 

[Flamin]

"This man has won 4 of the 5 monuments. But he can't top 5 Algarve, what a 3rd rate rider"

I don't follow

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Logic brought it up Nah but I haven't seen any obsession around MVDP about GC. Just the occassional talk (mostly fed by the media) like with Cancellara in the past.

Of course it doesn't make sense. If guys like MVDP and Alaphilippe become GC riders before having tried to win all classics, I might as well walk away from cycling.

Lol, whatever dude. Maybe read what i'm saying. I have always said i don't see him become a GC rider, but a lot of other people have been claiming he would do well there was well. And if there is a doubt in his mind, he needs to be able to rule it out. Like i said in the first post you responded to, i hope for his sake it's not the direction he will take, but he may need to figure it out for himself just to be able to disregard it completely. Check other people's responses like DT, who is also still wondering.

 

[Flamin]

Lol, whatever dude. Maybe read what i'm saying. I have always said i don't see him become a GC rider, but a lot of other people have been claiming he would do well there was well. And if there is a doubt in his mind, he needs to be able to rule it out. Like i said in the first post you responded to, i hope for his sake it's not the direction he will take, but he may need to figure it out for himself just to be able to disregard it completely. Check other people's responses like DT, who is also still wondering.

I read what you said. We both say he needs to figure out for himself what he wants to do (that's kind of obvious). I'm just saying I don't think he "needs to get this out of the way, so he knows".

I mean, he's clearly focusing on MTB and classics right now. A good or bad performance on a murito is not suddenly going to change that. He can still test his limits uphill and shift his focus to GC in a year or 3.