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.

 

[Oldman]

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.

But what he's doing tells him what he needs to know. That's more important than telling us anything.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Looks like MVP is in awesome form this winter. Pogacar's task to unlock MSR or PR will be very hard. At least there's a proper rivalry during the monuments and something to excite about this spring.

 

[LookProGoSlow]

Looks like MVP is in awesome form this winter. Pogacar's task to unlock MSR or PR will be very hard. At least there's a proper rivalry during the monuments and something to excite about this spring.

Yeah good one. The spread of competitive riders is already so thin. If there was no MVDP in Pogacar’s campaign or no Pogacar in MVDP’s campaign.. it would probably be even less exciting to watch. I give van Aert the benefit of doubt for this spring but my faith in his chances are low. Evenepoel does not participate and on cobbles would likely be sub-top so not really anyone else left for the classics.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Yeah good one. The spread of competitive riders is already so thin. If there was no MVDP in Pogacar’s campaign or no Pogacar in MVDP’s campaign.. it would probably be even less exciting to watch. I give van Aert the benefit of doubt for this spring but my faith in his chances are low. Evenepoel does not participate and on cobbles would likely be sub-top so not really anyone else left for the classics.

If not for MVP Pogacar's dominance in 2025 would've been absurd. It takes one of the greatest one-day racers of all time on his playground to beat the Slovenian. Evenepoel's lack of participation in MSR is very disappointing (maybe currently it's his best shot at a monument victory), Flandres participation is more debatable (but I see him getting top3 or top5 if his positioning is not too big of a problem). Pedersen should also be very strong on the cobbles but MVP is definitely #1 roadblock in Pogacar's missing monuments.

 

[Berniece]

Fans of cycling come here to discuss their admiration of his cyclocross victories and Judge them in comparison to his road race victories and upcoming program. You know....like Paris Roubaix that no other cyclist is racing now either.
I guess for some postulating on Jonas' potential time at altitude, instead of a schedule actually racing road events is more relevant to the Professional Road Racing forum? I didn't see that in the rules of engagement, here.

I never said it couldn't be discussed here. I'm saying that his results are discussed elsewhere which might be the reason why it's not much discussed here.