It's not hard to understand. The most intense efforts demanded by cyclocross are the perfect first phase of an entire season. Zone 2 for hours is great but if you want to win a classic or Roubaix you're racing/training in the Red House first. It all contributes to base and the super long training rides are almost a therapeutic relief. Wout, Pidcock and many serious sprint lead-out guys get their training early.
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He’s first going on holiday and probably does the same as last year. Just ride 10 races and the WC. Long time before he needs to really perform.
Even in this random metric he's almost completely on par with Van Aert.
OT: he looks sharp as a knife. Still think Zurich is too hard for him, but he does like it has it's full focus and attention and he made some sacrifices for it.
OT: he looks sharp as a knife. Still think Zurich is too hard for him, but he does like it has it's full focus and attention and he made some sacrifices for it.
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He can lose 2 lbs. of upperbody muscle, and then put it back on in time for the important CX races.
Watching before and after pictures of him this spring and now makes me wonder how he was not called Fathieu Fat der Poel back then.
"Fat" and winning, there is nothing better. Scrawny and losing is not so enjoyable so let's see if it's worth it. It probably isn't.
He looked "fat" during the TdF. He really came into that race under prepared. I guess he was thinking he'd use it for training for the Olympics but it did not work out for him.
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True but it’s always easy to know afterwards. He needed something in between the end of the classics and the Olympics so TDF probably looked like the best choice. Still they could have aborted halfway when it really didn’t seem to go well eg after the gravel stage
MvdP back in yellow!
Or as some have pointed out, back in the TREK kit.
Or as some have pointed out, back in the TREK kit.
Jfc now this one is going to be all about weight as well? Please no.
Look as ready for the Worlds as he can be, but I doubt it will be enough against those two aliens. He needs to out smart them. In a straight fight against them he loses.
He's in the best possible shape for the WC, with some extra lost kg's compared to spring classics. If that's enough to win, that still has to be seen, but the team is confident he'll be part of the story on sunday.
www.wielerflits.be
Christoph Roodhooft: “Op het WK zien we de best mogelijke versie van Mathieu van der Poel”
Mathieu van der Poel heeft vorige week in de Ronde van Luxemburg de laatste hand aan zijn WK-vorm gelegd. Eentje die met chirurgische precisie uitgedokterd is door Alpecin-Deceuninck en die hem zondag die ene superdag moet bezorgen, die nodig is om zijn wereldtitel te verlengen. “We hebben er vert
After watching the local lap and with the rain I’m a bit more optimistic for him than before. He knows he has to go all in on the longer climbs to follow. The plateau is tailor made for him. Little recovery and punchy steep parts. Some slow corners in the wet.
But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
I'm seeing him losing his front wheel in "some slow corners in the wet".
Where'd you find a good course preview. The ones at Youtube show more of the riders doing the circuit than the course itself. One steep hill (18%) and then not very technical descending?
Isn’t it the same local lap as the Junior’s race this morning? I posted that after seeing the race.
But who is going to make it hard every climb? Who was the team and the tactic for that? If any other country besides Belgium/Slovenia make it too hard, they play right into the cards of Evenepoel/Pogacar. So they shouldn't be doing that, if they want a chance for gold. Slovenia doesn't have the team to make it this hard, so there's only Belgium, and I'm not sure if they want a hard race. Depends on how confident Evenepoel is. Based on interviews, and vlogs I've seen, he seems very confident though.
That’s also what I’m thinking. Remco seems confident. Pogi as usual. I just don’t see Mathieu match them on that wall if they go all out. Not just their team to make it hard 1 or 2 times but the leaders themselves. Don’t think he can follow there.
I can’t wrap my head around it. Because more recovery time than Liege for example, and the stage he won in the Tour was a bit of the same as here I think. So it could go either way. But I’m more optimistic he can defend his jersey.
Yes it looks like it’s the same loop. Not too technical nor too hard (maybe). Yet the Dane went down so there are limits on how fast you can go in the rain.
They don't expect rain on Sunday though
MVDP is riding Lombardia this year. With the easier ending he wants to try it again
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