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

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Almost ever since his unfortunate brush with the fencing at 2019 Tour TT stage it seems like Wout is coming back from some kind of injury. That's got to take a toll on him.

Yeah, watching him this year, he is really hesitant when he is in the bunch at the end of a race. You can tell he doesn't want to be there, but is because he is supposed to be. He definitely looks like he's riding scared to me.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I was talking about RVV and PR.

I misunderstood.

And I know this is a losers take, but if he'd started the sprint in 2020, instead of waiting for Mathieu to kick, I do believe he would have won. Then his flat a couple of years ago in P-R. I know he hasn't won, and nothing can change that, but this continued disparaging of his accomplishments is tiresome. Not saying you are doing that in an overall assessment, but generally, that is what a lot of people's take is on him.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Average speed is so not a metric to gauge level or do we really wanna believe Cancellara would OTL Roubaix?

Maybe not to you, but to have done so with half of his body scrapted up, isn't indicative of someone who is showing any weakness...but you assess however you need to.

I think Tadej is going to destroy him when they race against each other.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

With the way Tadej is riding, any race they are in together.

MVP is favoured over Pogacar in MSR:
1) His uphill acceleration on mole hills is better than Pog's.
2) He descends better.
3) He sprints better.
He's also favoured in PR due to no climbs, his great quality on cobbles (very hard to drop) and better sprint.

 

[Red Rick]

Maybe not to you, but to have done so with half of his body scrapted up, isn't indicative of someone who is showing any weakness...but you assess however you need to.

I think Tadej is going to destroy him when they race against each other.

Quality strawman this.

Winning by a minute+ after crashing is a good data point to look at. Faster than ever Strade is not.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Quality strawman this.

Winning by a minute+ after crashing is a good data point to look at. Faster than ever Strade is not.

I disagree. I also don't think you understand what a strawman is. Regardless, it is strange that you say "his crash and winning by a minute+" is relevant, but the fact that that crash and win by a minute+ were also done in the fastest time ever (beating his time from last year, if I remember correctly) doesn't seem to be a worthy varriable is interesting, but not one I agree with.

I'll also note that I am the one who has been saying that Mathieu will not beat Tadej (because of the form Mathieu is currently showing) from the beginning of this thread of posts, and I haven't changed that argument. You moved the goalpost, not me. Maybe spit your straw out before trying to say I'm the one who cut the field. You are the one who first addressed my post, not the other way around.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

MVP is favoured over Pogacar in MSR:
1) His uphill acceleration on mole hills is better than Pog's.
2) He descends better.
3) He sprints better.
He's also favoured in PR due to no climbs, his great quality on cobbles (very hard to drop) and better sprint.

I don't think he should be favored. I may be proven wrong (unlike a lot of people, I don't actually care if I'm wrong...I'm wrong several times every day on a variety of topics), but I stand by my current assessment.

 

[jmdirt]

ChewDef, I've read your posts for quite a while now (years!), and I'm wondering if you are just dragging a worm around the pond here?

 

[Red Rick]

MVP is favoured over Pogacar in MSR:
1) His uphill acceleration on mole hills is better than Pog's.
2) He descends better.
3) He sprints better.
He's also favoured in PR due to no climbs, his great quality on cobbles (very hard to drop) and better sprint.

The most important one is actually drafting is huge on the Poggio and Pogacar is the one who needs to go solo

 

[Berniece]

Some pictures of MVDP today and yesterday

 

[Sciatic]

The most important one is actually drafting is huge on the Poggio and Pogacar is the one who needs to go solo

MVDP’s cornering on and off of each cobbled section is another advantage he has at PR. He can create gaps quite quickly that way.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Some pictures of MVDP today and yesterday

The first one actually is a great picture. Well done by the photographer!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

MVDP’s cornering on and off of each cobbled section is another advantage he has at PR. He can create gaps quite quickly that way.

i can see Pog crash trying to following VDP round a cobbled corner

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Another day, another L.

 

[Berniece]

He's ready for MSR. Followed easily, and still had some energy left

 

[CatchyH]

He's ready for MSR. Followed easily, and still had some energy left

Being ready isn't enough if you're facing Pogacar. He has to be at his best and so far he hasn't shown that.

 

[Didinho]

Being ready isn't enough if you're facing Pogacar. He has to be at his best and so far he hasn't shown that.

He wasn’t ready couple years ago and was with Pogi at the top of Poggio. He’s been worse in Tirreno before. Looks more than good enough to me.

 

[jono]

Mathieu van der Poel

Mathieu van der Poel (born 1995-01-19 in Kapellen) is a professional road racing cyclist from Netherlands, currently riding for Alpecin - Deceuninck. His best results are 3 wins in Ronde van Vlaanderen and 2 wins in Paris - Roubaix.

www.procyclingstats.com

Scroll down to the bottom

 

[Red Rick]

He wasn’t ready couple years ago and was with Pogi at the top of Poggio. He’s been worse in Tirreno before. Looks more than good enough to me.

There's a very small chance he's too good at this point before Sanremo and there is 0% chance he is not good enough at this point.

 

[kingjr]

I thought he would get dropped today, but they went kinda slow over the last climb.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Pogacar just toyed with Pidcock at Strade. He could have dropped him any time he wanted, except when he was pulling himself out of a ditch. You guys can mail MVDP the trophies already, if you want, but I think he is going to run into the same tornado everybody else does.

Tom Pidcock 2025: (Avg placing 9th to 10th if you take out the TT)

Date	Result			Race	Distance	Points PCS	Points UCI
10.03 » 16.03				Tirreno-Adriatico (2.UWT)				more
14.03	6	15		Stage 5 - Ascoli Piceno › Pergola	205	7	15
13.03	8	19		Stage 4 - Norcia › Trasacco	190	3	8
12.03	2	19		Stage 3 - Follonica › Colfiorito	239	30	40
11.03	22	49		Stage 2 - Camaiore › Follonica	192
10.03	49	49		Stage 1 (ITT) - Lido di Camaiore › Lido di Camaiore	11.5

Mathieu 2025: (Avg place 11th, if you take out the TT)

Date	Result			Race	Distance	Points PCS	Points UCI
10.03 » 16.03				Tirreno-Adriatico (2.UWT)				more
14.03	2	30		Stage 5 - Ascoli Piceno › Pergola	205	30	40
13.03	3	42		Stage 4 - Norcia › Trasacco	190	18	30
12.03	20	52		Stage 3 - Follonica › Colfiorito	239
11.03	20	137		Stage 2 - Camaiore › Follonica	192
10.03	140	140		Stage 1 (ITT) - Lido di Camaiore › Lido di Camaiore	11.5

 

[Berniece]

Pogacar just toyed with Pidcock at Strade. He could have dropped him any time he wanted, except when he was pulling himself out of a ditch.

That’s why he didn’t drop Pidcock when he first attacked

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

That’s why he didn’t drop Pidcock when he first attacked

I'm genuinely not understanding your point. Notwithstanding the insulting nature of the post below your's, I do believe that you can extrapolate something from Strade Pogacar and Pidcock, as it relates to MSR Pogacar and MVDP. I've stated before that I could well be wrong, but I suspect I am not. I think Pog is currently at a level that nobody can even come close to touching. I don't see an "that's it, I'm dead" moment coming from him now. He, metaphorically, has 5 bike lengths on everyone else, IMO.

 

[jono]

I'm genuinely not understanding your point. Notwithstanding the insulting nature of the post below your's, I do believe that you can extrapolate something from Strade Pogacar and Pidcock, as it relates to MSR Pogacar and MVDP. I've stated before that I could well be wrong, but I suspect I am not. I think Pog is currently at a level that nobody can even come close to touching. I don't see an "that's it, I'm dead" moment coming from him now. He, metaphorically, has 5 bike lengths on everyone else, IMO.

A less speculative approach would to look if there has been any correlation between previous T-A participations and MVDP's subsequent results at MSR and other major spring classics.

 

[yaco]

MVDP is going well and will be hard to beat in the big races. I am struggling to understand why Pogacar is so often mentioned in this thread?