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

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Jan 31, 2021
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It's interesting. And MVP is quite a massive guy. We've seen Dumoulin doing 10 km in 32 minutes. Obviously it's not that surprising considering how awesome aerobic engines they have but I'm curious how fast Vingegaard could go for example (after some training of course), he's so light, like African long-distance runners. Is breaking 30 minutes possible for such an elite, lightweight climber?
Mike Woods was a top junior and collegiate middle distance runner. He doesn't have a 10k PB on the World Athletics site, but his 5k PB of 14m14 results in a predicted 10k finish of 29m41.
 
Jun 19, 2009
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It's interesting. And MVP is quite a massive guy. We've seen Dumoulin doing 10 km in 32 minutes. Obviously it's not that surprising considering how awesome aerobic engines they have but I'm curious how fast Vingegaard could go for example (after some training of course), he's so light, like African long-distance runners. Is breaking 30 minutes possible for such an elite, lightweight climber?
It'd take awhile for any serious GT climber/TT er to rebalance their quad/hamstrings to run without cramping. It would also affect their cycling climbing after they dedicated the effort to run successfully. Contador was a possible exception and could explain his ability to climb out of the saddle for prolonged efforts.
Does anyone know how much time after retiring from cycling the Dumoulin ran serious 10km?
 
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Apr 13, 2021
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It's interesting. And MVP is quite a massive guy. We've seen Dumoulin doing 10 km in 32 minutes. Obviously it's not that surprising considering how awesome aerobic engines they have but I'm curious how fast Vingegaard could go for example (after some training of course), he's so light, like African long-distance runners. Is breaking 30 minutes possible for such an elite, lightweight climber?
Given that a 10k is not a multi day event I think he would just refuse to do it, otherwise he would get nervous in the night and wouldn't sleep.
 
Jul 7, 2013
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It'd take awhile for any serious GT climber/TT er to rebalance their quad/hamstrings to run without cramping. It would also affect their cycling climbing after they dedicated the effort to run successfully. Contador was a possible exception and could explain his ability to climb out of the saddle for prolonged efforts.
Does anyone know how much time after retiring from cycling the Dumoulin ran serious 10km?

Dumoulin was still an active cyclist when he ran 10 k in 32:38. As for Vingegaard I meant hypothetically If he focused on 10 k preparations for a few months (not happening of course).
 
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Feb 20, 2012
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Dumoulin was still an active cyclist when he ran 10 k in 32:38. As for Vingegaard I meant hypothetically If he focused on 10 k preparations for a few months (not happening of course).
The only relevant part is the 'not happening ofcourse'.

The answer if very likely no, but if he'd become a track athlete instead of a cyclist then very likely yes.
 
Jul 7, 2013
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The only relevant part is the 'not happening ofcourse'.

The answer if very likely no, but if he'd become a track athlete instead of a cyclist then very likely yes.

I get it but don't you think that a monster climber weighting 15-17 kg less than MVP should be able to beat his time by 10%? (after let's say half a year of good training) We are talking about a guy with one of the highest relative VO2max on the planet.
 
Feb 20, 2012
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I get it but don't you think that a monster climber weighting 15-17 kg less than MVP should be able to beat his time by 10%? (after let's say half a year of good training) We are talking about a guy with one of the highest relative VO2max on the planet.

Van der Poel coming from a CX background should have an advantage in running training and adaptation.

Simply put we could just do the math of what we estimate his VO2 for 30 minutes is and what running economy he needs to run sub 30, and then look into the scientific literature to see what's a typical improvement for beginners, but even then you make a lot of bad big assumptions as he's never gonna hit the same oxygen consumption numbers while running than he would on a bike.
 
Jul 7, 2013
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Van der Poel coming from a CX background should have an advantage in running training and adaptation.

Simply put we could just do the math of what we estimate his VO2 for 30 minutes is and what running economy he needs to run sub 30, and then look into the scientific literature to see what's a typical improvement for beginners, but even then you make a lot of bad big assumptions as he's never gonna hit the same oxygen consumption numbers while running than he would on a bike.

This is obviously the most important part and it would be interesting to know how much training it would take to achieve similar values (i.e. for his running muscles to fully utilize his cardiovascular engine & endurance sports background).
 
Feb 20, 2012
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This is obviously the most important part and it would be interesting to know how much training it would take to achieve similar values (i.e. for his running muscles to fully utilize his cardiovascular engine & endurance sports background).
Likely he'd never hit the same numbers, and probably not all that close.
 
Jul 7, 2013
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Likely he'd never hit the same numbers, and probably not all that close.

Agreed that likely never and maybe i am underestimating the difficulty of this transition. Still 30 minutes is 10 percent worse than what the best guys can do so i am not expecting him to fight for glory in 10 k events.
 
Oct 4, 2020
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It's interesting. And MVP is quite a massive guy. We've seen Dumoulin doing 10 km in 32 minutes. Obviously it's not that surprising considering how awesome aerobic engines they have but I'm curious how fast Vingegaard could go for example (after some training of course), he's so light, like African long-distance runners. Is breaking 30 minutes possible for such an elite, lightweight climber?
He might have the running style of a wonky donky.