- Feb 20, 2012
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He said he won't ride it, there are better ways of prepping for upcoming races, I suppose.
1st season without a monument win since 2021. Worst set of monument results since 2019. Not great but he's not washed just yet so i'm sure he'll add more wins in the future.
Well, he was the strongest today and probably would have won a 4th PR (with darkhorse van Aert who also might have had even more - looked at ease in the end).
But even if he probably timed form right, his season looks subpar for his standard. None of MSR, Flanders, PR - did not happen since 2021 where he lost the sprints vs. Asgreen (Flanders) and Colbrelli (PR).
But even if he probably timed form right, his season looks subpar for his standard. None of MSR, Flanders, PR - did not happen since 2021 where he lost the sprints vs. Asgreen (Flanders) and Colbrelli (PR).
In many ways I found his performance Today more impressive than many of his monument wins. What a truly impressive ride.
- Sep 12, 2022
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If he’s willing to put in the work to lose some weight. Will be too difficult otherwise. Belgium will probably act as a Pogacar leadout again
The fact that he was the first rider there to congratulate Wout, made me a bit of a fan now. That showed a lot of class, as the tension between them has sometimes made me feel like Mathieu was dismissive of Wout. He was extremely gracious, and showed that he is a great competitor. Chapeau Mathieu!
Thats a wrap on MvdP's spring campaign I guess. What a spring it has been again. Although, as a fan, I would have like to see him add to his monument tally, I can live with how things went.
He won two big classics and some TA stage victories, even that is already more than most riders win in their career.
The streak of (2) monuments each year obviously had to end at some point. While he was great at a lot of moments since 2022, luck also seemed to keep going his way a lot. That luck and some questionable decisionmaking by him and his team catched up to him this spring, but thats cycling. They are not robots. It also gives the team a incentive to look what they can improve again, too much winning usually doesnt help with that.
We cannot know the future, but I see no signs of his decline, his form was good, while at the same time, I see no succesors to the MvdP-WvA.generation to take over yet. So I dont see why he wouldnt win more monuments in the future, even with Pogacar and perhaps Evenepoel around.
He won two big classics and some TA stage victories, even that is already more than most riders win in their career.
The streak of (2) monuments each year obviously had to end at some point. While he was great at a lot of moments since 2022, luck also seemed to keep going his way a lot. That luck and some questionable decisionmaking by him and his team catched up to him this spring, but thats cycling. They are not robots. It also gives the team a incentive to look what they can improve again, too much winning usually doesnt help with that.
We cannot know the future, but I see no signs of his decline, his form was good, while at the same time, I see no succesors to the MvdP-WvA.generation to take over yet. So I dont see why he wouldnt win more monuments in the future, even with Pogacar and perhaps Evenepoel around.
He has been stronger than ever and this will be the first year since 2022 that he will not win a Monument.
He’s won all there is to win for him. I would love if he’d really tried all in for XC worlds, but his team and sponsor commitments will not let him I’m afraid.
It is a failed spring season for him, but that also shows what the expectations (rightfully so) are around him that anything less than winning a monument is a failed season. Winning Omloop and E3, two stages at Tirreno, and still concluding your spring season is extremely disappointing shows that only he has to be at his utmost best at MSR and PR (I don't see him winning RvV with Pogacar around) to have a successful classics season.
- Jul 7, 2013
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After the Arenberg I wasnt sure he would continue but he did an admirable ride afterwards. It was nice how he congratulated his eternal Belgian rival afterwards.
It is and it isn't. Van der Poel has won everything there is to win, to the point now that I think he probably measures a successful spring less on what he wins and more on how his race goes.
In that light, Milano Sanremo was conditioned by a crash and Paris-Roubaix by a loss of two and half minutes in a crucial sector. It's unclear exactly how much the crash affected him (only he will know), and he could have raced Ronde differently given his inferiority to Pogacar.
That said, I don't actually think he'll look back on this spring season with disappointment. It feels more like he had the legs and the form, but luck got in the way of doing his best at 2/3 – and that's just cycling. I'm sure he's aware that he's gotten the rub of the green a lot in the past, and probably will do again. He'll be confident in the knowledge he can compete at this level again next year and move on.
Yeah, as a pro you need to look at the positives. MVP has a lot of positives to take away here. as you point out it is really encouraging to loose due to circumstances more than lack of power or endurance.
And i also think he is aware that sometimes lady luck favors you in P-R and sometimes she doesn't.
- Sep 2, 2011
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In this PR there was a big technical mistake. Had he chosen the same clips of the other Alpecin riders (read Philipsen), the race could've been back on for him.
Instead it was just hell.
Anyway impressive performance and a bit gutted his campaign had to end like this. But that's cycling.
Instead it was just hell.
Anyway impressive performance and a bit gutted his campaign had to end like this. But that's cycling.
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- Aug 29, 2011
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There's a reason why records are 3x RVV and 4x PR.
Van der Poel definitely has a good chance to equal or even improve them, but there have been similar contenders in the past.
Van der Poel definitely has a good chance to equal or even improve them, but there have been similar contenders in the past.
I hope you don't mean Pogacar is the favourite for MSR, this year with the crash and MvdP dropping on Poggio was an exception, not a rule
- Feb 20, 2012
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He was bad in San Remo, he was super strong in Flanders but he lost against an alien and he was super strong in Roubaix but had bad luck.
Actually, it was JP who was on prototype Shimano SPD-SLR.
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