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

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Coffeeplanter

Jul 15, 2024
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pastronef said:
oh dear it sucks. MTB Worlds. another sport where my fav riders could be beaten by him.
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I mean, if he decides to come in undercooked without any races again, he will come up short, again. He said he won't start XCO until after the Tour, which leaves just a singular world cup in August for him to attend, which won't do much positive for his starting position, despite fraudulent and corrupt Lappartient doing everything in his power to benefit Van der Poel in Glasgow.

If he wants to be serious about this, he comes to Nove Mesto in May.
 
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Salvarani

Oct 15, 2017
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jono said:
His schedule would be so much more interesting and atypical if sponsors didn't demand that he pedal around at the Tour.
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Is he himself interested in targeting anything else outside of the classics and worlds?

I dont think so.

It doesnt make sense to skip the Tour with that in mind. Good training camp before the fall for him if nothing else. Plus media exposure both for him and the team. It is money involved as well I would assume. Incentives for him. Bonuses.
 
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Keldergoat

Sep 6, 2023
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Berniece said:
During a press moment of the team he said he's a bit ill, but nothing to be worried about. As the best one day racer in the world he was one of the last people to announce his schedule. And they are still not really sure what he'll be riding.
  • Tirreno
  • MSR
  • ? E3 ?
  • ? Gent-Wevelgem ?
  • ? Dwars door Vlaanderen ?
  • De Ronde
  • Roubaix
  • Tour de France
  • World Championship Mountainbike
  • World Championship Rwanda (Definitely not participating)
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Wielerflits calls E3 certain and that he probably chooses either GW or DvV. Makes sense cause he absolutely adores that race and sees it as the best prep for RvV.
 
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Axel Hangleck

Jan 7, 2017
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Coffeeplanter said:
I mean, if he decides to come in undercooked without any races again, he will come up short, again. He said he won't start XCO until after the Tour, which leaves just a singular world cup in August for him to attend, which won't do much positive for his starting position, despite fraudulent and corrupt Lappartient doing everything in his power to benefit Van der Poel in Glasgow.

If he wants to be serious about this, he comes to Nove Mesto in May.
Click to expand...
To be honest, if he was serious then he'd give the Tour a miss; he needs plenty of time training, and racing on the MTB to get back into the rhythm of XCO racing....
He's got the engine, we all know that - but that's not enough in XCO; he needs the skills sharpening again - that means racing on the MTB.
 
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Coffeeplanter

Jul 15, 2024
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Axel Hangleck said:
To be honest, if he was serious then he'd give the Tour a miss; he needs plenty of time training, and racing on the MTB to get back into the rhythm of XCO racing....
He's got the engine, we all know that - but that's not enough in XCO; he needs the skills sharpening again - that means racing on the MTB.
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He keeps talking about XCO gold being some sort of major career goal, yet is never willing to put in the effort and dedication. Very infuriating.
 
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Coffeeplanter

Jul 15, 2024
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jono said:
Never willing or never allowed?
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Willing. Even if he has some (contractual) obligation to give acte de presence in the Tour de France, there are plenty of opportunities year round to attend XCO World Cups that do not coincide with his spring goals, but he can't be bothered.

Meanwhile, Pidcock, more or less the same schedule, is out there riding Snowshoe and Mont-Saint-Anne.
 
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Barkintheeye

Barkintheeye

Feb 24, 2015
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Axel Hangleck said:
To be honest, if he was serious then he'd give the Tour a miss; he needs plenty of time training, and racing on the MTB to get back into the rhythm of XCO racing....
He's got the engine, we all know that - but that's not enough in XCO; he needs the skills sharpening again - that means racing on the MTB.
Click to expand...
Exactly that. Waltzing around in the Tour instead of doing focused MTB training sounds like a recipe for disaster. If he was the proven best MTB rider currently then maybe but instead he has proven that despite being the all time greatest CX rider, one of the ever best classics/1D riders and a generational talent he still has failed several times in MTB races. It just shows that transition to MTB takes time and effort.
 
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Axel Hangleck

Jan 7, 2017
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He's done it before, and in 2019 finally cracked it after a few years of honing the skills, getting experience. The result, 3 XCO, 5 XCC World Cup wins plus the European title - and a small Belgian stage race to warm up. The 'watt bomb' he dropped on Nino in Nove Mesto was memorable.

Coffeeplanter said:
Willing. Even if he has some (contractual) obligation to give acte de presence in the Tour de France, there are plenty of opportunities year round to attend XCO World Cups that do not coincide with his spring goals, but he can't be bothered.

Meanwhile, Pidcock, more or less the same schedule, is out there riding Snowshoe and Mont-Saint-Anne.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are also non World Cup races he can do, if he wants. Pidcock has turned up at the Swiss Bike Cup, OEK Revolution series, French Cup, etc to get the feeling back on the MTB.
 
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gavia88

Oct 7, 2019
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well, I think he should go for green in the Tour this year. I doubt however, that he already looked good enough to the stages to know that he has a real change for it this year. Would be a 1 time opertunity for him as I not believe, there will be such a 'classic' riders tour soon again. But probaly he is only there to please sponser and help Philipsen.
 
Berniece

Berniece

Sep 12, 2022
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gavia88 said:
well, I think he should go for green in the Tour this year. I doubt however, that he already looked good enough to the stages to know that he has a real change for it this year. Would be a 1 time opertunity for him as I not believe, there will be such a 'classic' riders tour soon again. But probaly he is only there to please sponser and help Philipsen.
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There are a couple of goals he wants to achieve before stopping, but I don't think the green jersey in the Tour is one of them. Apparently he doesn't care about getting the record in Flanders.

Road goals
  • Having worn the leaders jersey in the Vuelta, so he can say he has worn all 3
  • Gold medal in the Olympics (or in mountainbike)
Mountainbike goals
  • WC Mountainbike
  • Gold medal in the Olympics (or on the road)
  • Cape Epic
 
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