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I'm more curious for his tactics than his actual result tbh.yeah think it's far from a lost year. He did lose a lot of momentum though because he needed some races to get to good shape.
But that's not all too bad. let Van Aert draw all the attention for the cobbled classics. Maybe he can profit from that.
He will profit from it, and he will be fresh as a daisy. I have to wonder how van Aert will be able to stretch his form until then. Adrie van der Poel did say it is a lot easier to stretch a superb form, than it is to reach it. But i think van Aert has given a lot in 2 months, i'm not sure how realistic it is for him to maintain that form and stay rested on top of it.yeah think it's far from a lost year. He did lose a lot of momentum though because he needed some races to get to good shape.
But that's not all too bad. let Van Aert draw all the attention for the cobbled classics. Maybe he can profit from that.
Reckon that for Van Aert the Worlds are more important cause good chances for that are a lot rarer than, while Vlaanderen and PR are there every year. Also he has already had a tremendous year off of one peak essentially.He will profit from it, and he will be fresh as a daisy. I have to wonder how van Aert will be able to stretch his form until then. Adrie van der Poel did say it is a lot easier to stretch a superb form, than it is to reach it. But i think van Aert has given a lot in 2 months, i'm not sure how realistic it is for him to maintain that form and stay rested on top of it.
I've said it months ago, i think Mathieu is building to what matters most to him, the classics. And i think he will be dominating especially Flanders.
In hindsight, i actually think he should have gone to the WCC. I don't think he would have podiumed, but i think he'd have been in Matthews group. With a slightly different scenario (let's say they catch Alaphilippe) maybe the tempo drops and the group of Matthews can come back. He wouldn't have been the pre-race favorite, but under the right circumstances, he'd have had a shot. More of a shot than Van Avermaet at the Olympics.https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/m...-binckbank-tour-denk-dat-ik-topvorm-beet-heb/
Lets try a translation in English, bullet point style
- He thinks he's finally in top form now
- He thinks he made a wise decision to not ride the worlds as he would have to have a superday to be up there
- He felt lesser than last year so far and attributes that to the Covid19 period. He feels he's done too much rather than too little, and possible overtrained a bit resulting in lesser form
- BB Tour suits him better than Ardennais classics. And he wants to try and win the overall
- He even specifically trained on the ITT bike in Livigno for the 11km TT in BB tour. So that's a new one, I don't think he's ever done that before.
- He's disappointed he didn't get to ride MTB this year. Says he also missed the fact he was always racing, CX, MTB, Road. The fact that all of it fell away hurt him a little
- He's going to do about 10 to 15 crosses in the winter.
Cyclocross doesn't interfere with classics, it keeps him happy and he can use it as training. It's MTB that is the issue, if he wants to focus on road racing.I wonder if he will ever regret not focusing more on road racing. I wish he would quit cyclocross entirely, he has nothing left to prove and at this point it's beneath him imo. All due respect for his competitors but VDP doesn't even need to be near top shape to humiliate them. It has to be fun to be so much better than everyone else though, I get that. Still, in terms of prestige it doesn't mean much to beat guys like Aerts/Sweeck/Iserbyt. I'd prefer to see him do a full road season for once instead of doing so much cyclocross and then hoping that doesn't bite him in the ass during the classics season.
I still don't get this comments about not going to Tokyo if they get invited for the TdF next year but why wouldn't they skip London if he could ride the tour in 2024??
I'm glad he would skip Tokyo for the tour but it makes zero sense not skipping London also.
Cyclocross doesn't interfere with classics, it keeps him happy and he can use it as training. It's MTB that is the issue, if he wants to focus on road racing.
Don't really understand why he skipped the Worlds in a season like this. You ride whatever you can, nothing is certain.
Would've been better to have competed and had a great workout, given he 'needs' to raceHe skipped them because he didn't think he'd be competitive.
He's also skipping the MTB Worlds when he would likely be favourite for the win.....
I hope he does. I mean it's unlikely he can do anything against Alaphilippe or Hirschi. But apart from that many good riders are missing. Might as well try