• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 108 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Well, that kind've ruins my Christmas to New Year CX viewing plans. It already kind've sucked that Diegem was canceled and that there are no crowds, but now with MVDP out...Hate to say it, but time to takes whatever time he really needs to return at 100%. Very few things in sports match MVDP at full power. Rest up, and then blow everybody up in the spring.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Sandisfan
tbh i said before best thing is to get totally on top of this back problem. Thought they did but they didn't. So now get it completely 100% fixed, otherwise postpone. Don't try and come back half assed again. It doesn't work.
I suppose with the issues that he has it's practically impossible to fix it 100%. They could think it was actually fixed and the only way to assess that was to try it out in the racing conditions. We have not enough details about his injury and how they approach it to say what's best for him.

Proffesional sport is all about staying as close to your body limits as possible while not exceeding it and back problems like his are especially hard to manage and to predict the outcome.

Anyway, they should certainly try to solve this problem as much as they can, even if it demands sacrificing this year's CX season etc (although like I said it's not that simple and obvious as it seems to be).
 
That sounds bad. I believe the moment that caused these problems was the crash in Tokio.

Fingers crossed that this back problem doesn‘t play a role for his entire future career.
Not at all. He had backproblems in the past. Which is not so exceptional. But he has the current back problems since May this year, from the mountain bike race in Altstadt.
An oedema on an intervertebral disc is the result of an inflammation, due to dammage on the disc. Existing damage to the vertebrae, exacerbated by the fall at the Olympics.
The injury did not have time to heal, because Vdp absolutely wanted to be ready for the World Championship and Paris-Roubaix. Same story in december. Back injury not fully healed, and started training too hard too early. To reappear in the difficult cross in Dendermonde. The back injury was there again. Probably never even fully healed. What you could see from the start in Zolder the day after.
I can't imagine that the trainer and supervisors of Vdp will keep messing around.
To save his spring on the road, and perhaps his entire career, he must now rest for weeks. Certainly no more cross and rehab.
 
I suppose with the issues that he has it's practically impossible to fix it 100%. They could think it was actually fixed and the only way to assess that was to try it out in the racing conditions. We have not enough details about his injury and how they approach it to say what's best for him.

Proffesional sport is all about staying as close to your body limits as possible while not exceeding it and back problems like his are especially hard to manage and to predict the outcome.

Anyway, they should certainly try to solve this problem as much as they can, even if it demands sacrificing this year's CX season etc (although like I said it's not that simple and obvious as it seems to be).

Yeah, I agree. I think most pro athletes are used to living with constant problems, lingering issues and pain that is always there, sometimes stronger and managable, sometimes almost like it's not there, sometimes really strong - you can try to control it and work on it not affecting your performance, not getting worse, but sometimes it's very difficult to tell what is "under control" and stable enough so that stronger efforts don't make it worse, and when it is too bad to compete or even train just a bit.
 
It's easy with hindsight, but I wonder if he should have bothered coming back for the Road Worlds & P-R; and just taken the rest of the year off to recover. Was he rushed back for those races, and have they tried to rush him back to get preparation for the CX Worlds?

Hard to say if he was rushed or not. You would need inside knowledge and we will probably not get an answer to that unless someone speaks on it.

For all we know it might have been Mathieu that wanted to ride, even if not hundred percent. Not been totally honest about how much pain he was dealing with. Just one of many things that could have been the case if we speculate.

Right now, I think him and a lot people around him is pretty nervous since something is obviously not right with him at the moment. Which is such a shame if he has to spend a lot of time off the bike, but if it is necessary then that is just the way it is.
 
Hard to say if he was rushed or not. You would need inside knowledge and we will probably not get an answer to that unless someone speaks on it.

For all we know it might have been Mathieu that wanted to ride, even if not hundred percent. Not been totally honest about how much pain he was dealing with. Just one of many things that could have been the case if we speculate.

Right now, I think him and a lot people around him is pretty nervous since something is obviously not right with him at the moment. Which is such a shame if he has to spend a lot of time off the bike, but if it is necessary then that is just the way it is.
Guessing MVDP is extremely hard to keep off the bike, and moreover off the start line of a big race. All things considered, I'd say PR might be the most impressive performance of his career - so far...
 
Looking at the video of it, it does look like it was a very soft crash though. I would guess that the race in Dendermonde had more of an effect on his back.
Agreed. I guess you have to hope very best case scenario is that the shock of the first race effort irritated things and perhaps coming back the very next day was a bit too much. In that case, maybe there is an outside chance he can pull off something in CX this season. Of course the best thing is probably just to scrap the season and be ready for RVV and PR. If he can get to 100% form he's nearly unbeatable in those two races - especially on the off chance the weather is nasty at PR again. Just never know with MVDP.
 
Yet another confirmation of the heavy overload by combining cyclocross, mountainebike and road running. by Bombeke, the physiotherapist of Vdp himself.
Translated from Dutch :
"The injury.... is actually the result of the many attacks he has committed on his body. From mountain biking to cycling on the road, to cyclocross and also BMX in the past. His body is now paying the price.”

I can add myself that Vdp also does motocross recreationally.

And Bombeke continues..... "Mathieu van der Poel's back problems started this summer. During the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Van der Poel fell heavily, but that is certainly not the main cause of all the pain". And.... "He started to have some trouble during the Tour, and then made a long trip to Tokyo. Then he again got relatively little rest and he had to start building up to the World Championship. In itself it is not so illogical that he still suffers from that.” And..... "in cyclocross, such an injury is put under much more pressure. He came from a very intensive trainingperiod, and then did really taxing cyclocrossraces. Had he started a road season, this problem probably wouldn't have resurfaced".

So, I hope that those who were not convinced or even claimed the opposite, admit that overload and combining different
back straining disciplines during the same season, is "a mortgage" on a beautiful and long sports career. And the real sports enthusiasts now hope that Vdp itself and his supervisors will see that.
 
Agreed. I guess you have to hope very best case scenario is that the shock of the first race effort irritated things and perhaps coming back the very next day was a bit too much. In that case, maybe there is an outside chance he can pull off something in CX this season. Of course the best thing is probably just to scrap the season and be ready for RVV and PR. If he can get to 100% form he's nearly unbeatable in those two races - especially on the off chance the weather is nasty at PR again. Just never know with MVDP.
He (only) won one topclassic in the past, Flanders. And only because the faster Van Aert made a big error. Waiting way to long to start te sprint against the more explosive VDP. And this year, the 100 % MVDP was beaten in Flanders. And the 98 % in Roubaix. By a not cobbles specialist and a youngster. So ? Unbeatable ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: davidsonduke
Yet another confirmation of the heavy overload by combining cyclocross, mountainebike and road running. by Bombeke, the physiotherapist of Vdp himself.
Translated from Dutch :
"The injury.... is actually the result of the many attacks he has committed on his body. From mountain biking to cycling on the road, to cyclocross and also BMX in the past. His body is now paying the price.”

I can add myself that Vdp also does motocross recreationally.

And Bombeke continues..... "Mathieu van der Poel's back problems started this summer. During the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Van der Poel fell heavily, but that is certainly not the main cause of all the pain". And.... "He started to have some trouble during the Tour, and then made a long trip to Tokyo. Then he again got relatively little rest and he had to start building up to the World Championship. In itself it is not so illogical that he still suffers from that.” And..... "in cyclocross, such an injury is put under much more pressure. He came from a very intensive trainingperiod, and then did really taxing cyclocrossraces. Had he started a road season, this problem probably wouldn't have resurfaced".

So, I hope that those who were not convinced or even claimed the opposite, admit that overload and combining different
back straining disciplines during the same season, is "a mortgage" on a beautiful and long sports career. And the real sports enthusiasts now hope that Vdp itself and his supervisors will see that.
I believe MvdP was fine until his team started racing him more in road stage races. He's a one day specialist and stage racing just leaves him weakened. And right now, his body would never hold up for a 3 week Grand Tour. All this talk about a run at the Green Jersey in the Tour is just foolishness.
 
I believe MvdP was fine until his team started racing him more in road stage races. He's a one day specialist and stage racing just leaves him weakened. And right now, his body would never hold up for a 3 week Grand Tour. All this talk about a run at the Green Jersey in the Tour is just foolishness.
Lol.

If he does heals and prepares normally there's no worries about lasting 3 weeks.

If he does heals and prepares normally
Oh ***
 
He (only) won one topclassic in the past, Flanders. And only because the faster Van Aert made a big error. Waiting way to long to start te sprint against the more explosive VDP. And this year, the 100 % MVDP was beaten in Flanders. And the 98 % in Roubaix. By a not cobbles specialist and a youngster. So ? Unbeatable ?
Inaccurate comment

VDP was not quite on the top level in Ronde 2021, he was a little bit fatigued. You can see from his hr and power data.

In Ronde 2020 VDP did more pulling, lead onto the final climbs and lead out the sprint. He was stronger than Van aert (barely) that day.

He destroyed Alaphilippe, Tadej, Wva on strade and again in tirreno. By flanders he was fatigue.

In roubaix he was stupid, pulling like he was Colbrellis teammate.
 

TRENDING THREADS