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

[Oldman]

Mathieu has also been in training camp the last two weeks. He even rode 3 hours with his Alpecin road teammates before the race today.

Mathieu is one of the best one-day riders, now and likely ever. But beating up on the current CX field, in the same way he has for a decade, often against more talented opponents, is hardly news or telling of his level for the upcoming classics season.

That he could do both training camps and take WC Cx titles at will says everything about his level. He feels he needs more endurance. Everyone else is staring at their "numbers" and maybe setting new Zwift records for their favorite Winter climb.

 

[Oldman]

the urine tossing has gotta be ***. nobody is going thru the logistics of that when they can just dump beer on him.
Was any urine tossing episode ever proven true? As in a conviction or someone admitting they did it?
Beer and piss look pretty much the same

I favor Celebrator, a Doppelbock. I seldom mistake it for my urine glass, fortunately.

 

[jono]

That he could do both training camps and take WC Cx titles at will says everything about his level. He feels he needs more endurance. Everyone else is staring at their "numbers" and maybe setting new Zwift records for their favorite Winter climb.

Mathieu's 'level' is that he is the greatest cyclocross rider ever. Most of his competition in the cx season are racing .2s or gravel in the summer. He is both more skilled and has a better engine than they do. He has been winning races by huge margins to anyone not named Wout forever. What he is doing this year is nothing new.

The only level that matters is whether he has made any gains relative to Pogacar that will allow him to compete for the win in RVV. I don't think winning by 30 seconds or a minute at Benidorm or Zonhoven tells us anything about that.