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

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No, we are sick and tired of you congratulating every single rider after a win like that and therefore people are starting to make fun of you.

I'm mildly amused, not sick and tired of it.

You seem to be sick and tired of a lot lately, though. You seem quite aggressive in a lot of your messages, aimed at lots of different things, more than before.
 
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Honestly though, the Tour route isn't great for Van der Poel.
I think that's what also makes it fun, if he finally knows what he is doing. The standard for Van der Poel grand tours at this point is just attacking for the sake of attacking, even if it does not make sense. It makes very little to no sense, in most cases in fact. If he rides with half a brain and starts marking some stages, I think it'd be great to see him in the medium mountain stages (Laruns, Issoire, Belleville-en-Beaujolais e.g.). I think he could do more there than most would anticipate. Poligny should definitely be a target.

Knowing Mathieu, Nogaro and Morzine are more likely.
 
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I think that's what also makes it fun, if he finally knows what he is doing. The standard for Van der Poel grand tours at this point is just attacking for the sake of attacking, even if it does not make sense. It makes very little to no sense, in most cases in fact. If he rides with half a brain and starts marking some stages, I think it'd be great to see him in the medium mountain stages (Laruns, Issoire, Belleville-en-Beaujolais e.g.). I think he could do more there than most would anticipate. Poligny should definitely be a target.

Knowing Mathieu, Nogaro and Morzine are more likely.
That's the thing. I don't believe at all Van der Poel is good enough for mountain stage breakaways. Only stage 8 and 10 look really good for him. Stage 12 is I think too hard, even in a breakaway. Stage 1 and 2 are gonna be for the main peloton, and I would not be surprised if it's literally Vingegaard vs Pogacar on the penultimate hill of stage 1.
 
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I think we're gonna see a different Van der Poel compared to previous years even uphill. Not Van Aert kind of levels of ridicolousness obviously. But better than expected
If for nothing else but he's taking a real break between here and there. Tour de Suisse can't come soon enough for us vdP fans. Seems like he has his mind in a good place, must be getting some real good people around him after his Australian incident.
 
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If for nothing else but he's taking a real break between here and there. Tour de Suisse can't come soon enough for us vdP fans. Seems like he has his mind in a good place, must be getting some real good people around him after his Australian incident.
Yep, and looks like he learned from last year's Giro/Tour nonsense. I still can't believe there were people here who thought that was a good idea.
 
I like the dynamism in our forum: we never gets sick nor tired when it comes to MVP.

With no GC aspirations for the team, he has carte blanche and on the paper few stages are friendly. He can win one. Stages 8 and 9 will be very dear to his heart. I want to see that probably more than anything.

But he should go for green, Wout did it: can he? Matthieu needs to study Jalabert, have a solid plan, and his team's commitment. He can do it. Allez Matthieu!
 
I don't love seeing MvdP just riding along during GTs. I did like his first Tour, where he quit while he was nearly ahead, after winning yellow and defending it like a champ. That's enough for me. You don't ask a racehorse to do donkey duty.

I do think in the future he might be able to transform into a one-week racer, maybe win a mild TdSuisse or T-A ... but so what?
 
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I don't love seeing MvdP just riding along during GTs. I did like his first Tour, where he quit while he was nearly ahead, after winning yellow and defending it like a champ. That's enough for me. You don't ask a racehorse to do donkey duty.

I do think in the future he might be able to transform into a one-week racer, maybe win a mild TdSuisse or T-A ... but so what?
Feel the same about WVA. Don't like to see him working for Vingegaard. He is too good to do donkey work. Last year it was a shame seeing WVA babysitting Vingegaard all the way on cobbles. I would love to see him fight for the win there.
 
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