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

[jmdirt]

Merckx easily, people don't seem to understand how good he was. There was a quote last week of someone that was actually alive when he rode: "The media said Merckx wasn't that impressive in the TDF because he didn't win enough stages. Merckx was so annoyed by that comment he attacked in a flat stage and won it."

Out of that list of riders, I can only see Cancellara do that besides Merckx.

Its all relative, and I don't really like comparing eras of any sport, but EM doesn't even win races in todays peloton. Now, obviously he would benefit from modern training, nutrition, and technology so who knows what he COULD be.

 

[jono]

Na hattrick zet Mathieu van der Poel punt achter voorjaar: "Niet mijn favoriete zege in Roubaix"

Interview Voor Mathieu van der Poel was zijn zege in Parijs-Roubaix van zondag niet zijn mooiste overwinning ooit in de Hel van het Noorden. Dat vertelde de kopman van Alpecin-Deceuninck na afloop op de persconferentie, waar WielerFlits ook bij aanwezig was. Daar vertelde Van der Poel ook dat...

www.wielerflits.nl

Van der Poel did not have power data after Arenberg. The radio also went out, though not specified at which point.

So both leaders were without power data for the final 38km. Does the race play out differently if this was not the case?

 

[Oldman]

Merckx easily, people don't seem to understand how good he was. There was a quote last week of someone that was actually alive when he rode: "The media said Merckx wasn't that impressive in the TDF because he didn't win enough stages. Merckx was so annoyed by that comment he attacked in a flat stage and won it."

Out of that list of riders, I can only see Cancellara do that besides Merckx.

Boonen was faster than those others. Not sure he could match the sheer, nasty toughness of Merckx and Musseuw. Those two seemed to hate losing more than they enjoyed winning. You could almost throw the Badger into that mix.

 

[gavia88]

so in summary, what would be MvdP's schedule for the rest of the season?


-some MTB in may??

-Dauphine/Suisse/Belgium Tour
-Tour de France

-MTB worlds

-after that still very unclear. No world championship. Probably he would like to defend his world title gravel in the Netherlands? or will he focus on some autumn classics, like Paris-Tours, Italian autumn classics, European Championship? Or maybe the new Tour of the Netherlands. Or end the season early, like he did in some other years as well.

 

[Berniece]

so in summary, what would be MvdP's schedule for the rest of the season?


-some MTB in may??

-Dauphine/Suisse/Belgium Tour
-Tour de France

-MTB worlds

-after that still very unclear. No world championship. Probably he would like to defend his world title gravel in the Netherlands? or will he focus on some autumn classics, like Paris-Tours, Italian autumn classics, European Championship? Or maybe the new Tour of the Netherlands. Or end the season early, like he did in some other years as well.

Doubt he'll ride anything on the road before TDF

 

[gavia88]

Doubt he'll ride anything on the road before TDF

I think he or his team mentioned it in a post Roubaix interview

 

[theyoungest]

Merckx easily, people don't seem to understand how good he was. There was a quote last week of someone that was actually alive when he rode: "The media said Merckx wasn't that impressive in the TDF because he didn't win enough stages. Merckx was so annoyed by that comment he attacked in a flat stage and won it."

Out of that list of riders, I can only see Cancellara do that besides Merckx.

Maybe, but on the other hand, just looking at his physique, Merckx probably couldn't beat Pogacar for the yellow jersey in the Tour. So why compare, it's just a totally different era. Cycling was much smaller back then, just a few countries really competing for the win, and less specialization.

 

[Oldman]

I don't know the context of the Merckx story but it seems plausible for pog to do that today. For example in il giro 2024 it looked like the rest of the field didn't bother following him in some later stages (granted these were not flat). Instead they just complained to the press.

If pog attacked and got a gap when he was already minutes ahead on GC then the only teams you have chasing are the sprinters' squads, and in some grand tours you don't really have too many of those. Even at the letour it seems like there are more and more teams just riding for 10th GC instead of stage wins.

The context was similar to Pogacar's Giro. Most of the riders had given up trying and didn't bother to follow Eddy or Tadej. Why waste the energy?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Has anyone ever seen that film with the weather man, groundhog day

 

[jono]

As per a post in the MTB section of these forums, van der Poel is on the start list for a MTB event in Germany in mid May.

rad-net.de - Content

www.rad-net.de

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Checks in, sees another "Merckx was better" discussion, ok bye

 

[Sciatic]

Checks in, sees another "Merckx was better" discussion, ok bye

That is so
Perfectly on target!

 

[scribers]

Where's Red Rick? I wanted to finish our PHYSICS conversation before this thread drift away to 2026 classics season.

 

[EllaChimp]

As per a post in the MTB section of these forums, van der Poel is on the start list for a MTB event in Germany in mid May.

rad-net.de - Content

www.rad-net.de

I can't wait to watch him doing mountain biking again. Whether he's racing on the road, doing mountain biking or cyclo-cross Mathieu is an exciting rider to watch! Here's a photo I took of him last month in Italy.

https://imgur.com/a/OCeiKYE

View: https://imgur.com/a/OCeiKYE

 

[Didinho]

He's riding the Dauphiné.

 

[Berniece]

He's riding the Dauphiné.

Nice, he has a role to play in the first 3 stages

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

MOD
No reason for Pogacar vs Vingegaard TdF GC discussion here.

 

[glassmoon]

already 2 times on the ground during the 1st lap (one over the bars on an easy jump)... two stupid rookie mistakes and overconfidence during the 1st MTB race in 2 years... just leave the mtb racing to pros and stick to the RR man. In Crans Montana he will be obliterated by the super hard technical course with so little mtb races and training under the belt this season...

 

[dazaau]

already 2 times on the ground during the 1st lap (one over the bars on an easy jump)... two stupid rookie mistakes and overconfidence during the 1st MTB race in 2 years... just leave the mtb racing to pros and stick to the RR man. In Crans Montana he would be obliterated by the super hard technical course.

Shocking and that second crash in particular was just 🤦‍♂️

 

[glassmoon]

dnf... 4 out of 4 wc in last 4 years 🤦‍♂

 

[Axel Hangleck]

If he spends time racing & training properly on the MTB, then he can do well - he's proved that before, but doing the odd race years apart is never going to end well. This isn't road or CX.....it's a far bigger technical challenge.

 

[Didinho]

After the Tour he’ll do more MTB training and some races. You just see a big difference when he hasn’t done the proper training. Some stupid mistakes. Just hope he’s not hurt badly and can do the team stage as planned before the Dauphiné.

 

[theyoungest]

The technique isn't the problem. The mistakes he makes are just stupid. Maybe it's overconfidence or a lack of patience to get to the front.

But he should just give up on XCO. There's no point, it's a waste of time and training. It's becoming a bit ridiculous with him crashing out of every race in the first few laps, at some point you have to realize it's not for you.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

After the Tour he’ll do more MTB training and some races. You just see a big difference when he hasn’t done the proper training. Some stupid mistakes. Just hope he’s not hurt badly and can do the team stage as planned before the Dauphiné.

I'd like to see him do some lower level races just to get the feeling back, away from the World Cup races; he used to do a Belgian stage race after the Spring classics before Albstadt/Nove Mesto.