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

[Bolder]

It must be so much fun to just toy with the world’s best on a stage like this.

 

[ppanther92]

Impressive return to the road. He looked powerful and waited for the right moment. It would be awesome if he could win a stage in the Tour. I don't know what his chances are in the Olympics, but he'll face some strong Austrian and French mountainbikers there.

Curious who the Austrian is because as an Austrian I can't think of a potential medalist.

 

[jaylew]

Curious who the Austrian is because as an Austrian I can't think of a potential medalist.

I think he meant Swiss.

 

[hfer07]

MVP doing MVP rides and winning like a true MVP

 

[hayneplane]

The kick to win today against a decent Alaphillipe and Matthews plus Laporte who did as well as he possibly could was reminiscent of Sagan in his 2011/2012 pomp when he he was leaner and better on the punchy sections but even that Sagan would rarely beat this MVDP level

 

[DaLong]

The kick to win today against a decent Alaphillipe and Matthews plus Laporte who did as well as he possibly could was reminiscent of Sagan in his 2011/2012 pomp when he he was leaner and better on the punchy sections but even that Sagan would rarely beat this MVDP level

Not only the kick but also he was in prime front position towards the end, around the turn...the peloton was centered around him just like Sagan. He found the right wheel to surf with no teammates, then broke the opposite direction a smidge bit sooner than Alaphilippe. It was eerie.

 

[dutchdescent]

Someone came up with it in the TDS thread before, but after Strade and yesterdays win (and there are many more we can think of) I think we should nickname him Matthieu THUNDERPOEL. Or just Thunderpoel. It’s very fitting for when he is on point, like he is now

 

[dutchdescent]

Someone came up with it in the TDS thread before, but after Strade and yesterdays win (and there are many more we can think of) I think we should nickname him Matthieu THUNDERPOEL. Or just Thunderpoel. It’s very fitting for when he is on point, like he is now

Now that I think of it. We should further develop these action hero figure names like Ramco, Thunderpoel, Tourminator, Lo Squalo, etc.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Curious who the Austrian is because as an Austrian I can't think of a potential medalist.

Schurter's grandfather on his mother's side had a cousin who was married to an Austrian.

 

[Open Horizon]

Great to see MvDP back at his best form.

He seemed unstoppable 3 months ago , as we saw in Strade, but after that apocalyptic Castelfidardo solo win in Tirreno, he wasn't quite the same during the remainder of the spring season. Clearly lacked a few percent in San-Remo, E3 and Ronde.

His stage wins in Swiss remind me of his 3 Tour of Britain 2019 victories where he made Trentin question his career choices.

View: https://youtu.be/eolcZgLg-kU?t=70


Pretty hilarious from 1:11

 

[OlavEH]

Great to see MvDP back at his best form.

He seemed unstoppable 3 months ago , as we saw in Strade, but after that apocalyptic Castelfidardo solo win in Tirreno, he wasn't quite the same during the remainder of the spring season. Clearly lacked a few percent in San-Remo, E3 and Ronde.

I wonder how much MdvP could have won in a max season where he downplayed cyclocross and MTB, and managed to peak his form both spring and autumnn. Gilbert had 7 big wins in one-day classics in 2011 (and 18 wins in total). I'm pretty sure VdP could have surpassed that.

 

[IndianCyclist]

I watched the highlights of yesterday's stage. At one point he was attacking, JA and Carapaz were totally focused on him and the rest were grimacing, he found something interesting to see at the side of the road and was literally sightseeing, while attacking.

 

[Sandisfan]

I watched the highlights of yesterday's stage. At one point he was attacking, JA and Carapaz were totally focused on him and the rest were grimacing, he found something interesting to see at the side of the road and was literally sightseeing, while attacking.

Hahaha maybe the camera missed a girls gone wild on the side of the road.

 

[DaLong]

Hahaha maybe the camera missed a girls gone wild on the side of the road.

I found it, it was about 25.1KM to go on Stage 3. He notices a photographer shooting him, maybe it was Jered Gruber?, and takes a double check at him for sure. Perhaps he was just looking back in the corner of his eye tho...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Great to see MvDP back at his best form.

He seemed unstoppable 3 months ago , as we saw in Strade, but after that apocalyptic Castelfidardo solo win in Tirreno, he wasn't quite the same during the remainder of the spring season. Clearly lacked a few percent in San-Remo, E3 and Ronde.

His stage wins in Swiss remind me of his 3 Tour of Britain 2019 victories where he made Trentin question his career choices.

View: https://youtu.be/eolcZgLg-kU?t=70


Pretty hilarious from 1:11

yeah he did kill a bit of his spring form with that tirreno stage. I think it would be interesting to see a full spring season from him without doing crazy stuff and just see how much he can win then.

 

[OlavEH]

I think it would be interesting to see a full spring season from him without doing crazy stuff and just see how much he can win then.

Agreed. Precisely what I wrote above. I dont't think it's possible with a 8 week long form peak from Omloop to LBL, but what about a peak from MSR to PR, but also competing at least from Strade to AGR, and not having any accidents, punctures, etc., during these races. Of course he woudn't make a clean sweep, but have many races could he actually win?

 

[Open Horizon]

Agreed. Precisely what I wrote above. I dont't think it's possible with a 8 week long form peak from Omloop to LBL, but what about a peak from MSR to PR, but also competing at least from Strade to AGR, and not having any accidents, punctures, etc., during these races. Of course he woudn't make a clean sweep, but have many races could he actually win?

Arguably, he doesn't need be 100% in Strade and AGR to compete for the win.

There's no question for me he would've been there (at minimum) with WvA and Pidcock in the recent AGR and BP finales if not for his switch to MTB.

 

[senna6541]

As for MVDP and Pidcock on the MTB, think it's fair to say that they were on opposite ends of the form spectrum in the last two WC races. Straight up, my money is on MVDP on everything other than the courses with sustained climbs. Could MVDP will win Olympic Gold on the MTB to go along with World Champion in CX and Road in same calendar year? If he can, no one will ever do it again. Unless of course Piddy gets a year where it all comes together for him - might just need the road course to suit him in '24 or '28...

 

[Open Horizon]

As for MVDP and Pidcock on the MTB, think it's fair to say that they were on opposite ends of the form spectrum in the last two WC races. Straight up, my money is on MVDP on everything other than the courses with sustained climbs. Could MVDP will win Olympic Gold on the MTB to go along with World Champion in CX and Road in same calendar year? If he can, no one will ever do it again. Unless of course Piddy gets a year where it all comes together for him - might just need the road course to suit him in '24 or '28...

I wouldn't put it all down to form.

Pidcock looks so damned natural on his MTB. The man and the machine blend into a single creature, flowing and rolling over any terrain and any slope. He would've won the Aldstadt race too if he had started on the first row.

We can essentially forget about the likes of Schurter and Avancini now. There's no question to me that Pidcock is the best MTBer in the world.

Yes VdP looked a bit rusty last month and might make some progress still, but I suspect we'll end up to a mirror situation of Cyclocross.

In CX, MvdP can be expected to dominate Pidcock, unless a parcours offers plenty of sustained climbing (Koppenbergcross, Namur, etc)

In MTB, Pidcock can be expected to dominate, unless perhaps a parcours offers plenty of flat mixed with short climbs only.

Fortunately, the Olympic parcours is supposed to resembles the latter type, so we're in for a treat.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I won't write Schurter off just yet - you don't win that many races,championships without having something about you. I'm not sure tomorrow's course will suit him, but Les Gets in a few weeks should - he won there in 2019 - his last World Cup win. However, I can see why people might think his time is over.

 

[Bolder]

As for MVDP and Pidcock on the MTB, think it's fair to say that they were on opposite ends of the form spectrum in the last two WC races. Straight up, my money is on MVDP on everything other than the courses with sustained climbs. Could MVDP will win Olympic Gold on the MTB to go along with World Champion in CX and Road in same calendar year? If he can, no one will ever do it again. Unless of course Piddy gets a year where it all comes together for him - might just need the road course to suit him in '24 or '28...

If only Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had won her triple in 2016 instead of 2014-2015.

 

[limak_]

If only Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had won her triple in 2016 instead of 2014-2015.

Making it during one calendar year is actually much harder because of road and mtb Worlds taking place usually very close to each other (if we're talking about Worlds triple, cause if we consider the Olympics mtb title, the situation is more favourable).

 

[senna6541]

I wouldn't put it all down to form.

Pidcock looks so damned natural on his MTB. The man and the machine blend into a single creature, flowing and rolling over any terrain and any slope. He would've won the Aldstadt race too if he had started on the first row.

We can essentially forget about the likes of Schurter and Avancini now. There's no question to me that Pidcock is the best MTBer in the world.

Yes VdP looked a bit rusty last month and might make some progress still, but I suspect we'll end up to a mirror situation of Cyclocross.

In CX, MvdP can be expected to dominate Pidcock, unless a parcours offers plenty of sustained climbing (Koppenbergcross, Namur, etc)

In MTB, Pidcock can be expected to dominate, unless perhaps a parcours offers plenty of flat mixed with short climbs only.

Fortunately, the Olympic parcours is supposed to resembles the latter type, so we're in for a treat.

Yep, Tokyo course looks like a fair fight between two guys of drastically different stature. As good as Piddy is, MVDP's form seems to be trending nicely. If he goes into the TDF and Olympics in SB/TA level form, good luck. Don't think Piddy or anyone else in the world will have any chance of dealing with him in anything other than a mountain stage or TT.

 

[Bolder]

Making it during one calendar year is actually much harder because of road and mtb Worlds taking place usually very close to each other (if we're talking about Worlds triple, cause if we consider the Olympics mtb title, the situation is more favourable).

Oh, for sure, but she would have had a chance in an Olympic year.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

He is still leading the XC World Cup, even after the Friday evening XCC race......Would like to see him do the full World Cup, as he'd probably win it; he finished 2nd in 2019, despite missing two rounds.