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

[Red Rick]

But there is still 2 more hills in the circuit. Something like 500-600m at 6%. This where Pogacar can build his gap after going solo on the main hill. I still think MVP can be in the top10 but fighting for the win is out of reach. We are talking about MVP, no chance he will race it if he doesn't think he can compete there.

I didnt say he could win. I think the parcours is good enough for him to possibly beat everyone else than Pogacar and maybe Evenepoel.

Maybe Pidcock on a super day is also better

 

[canina82]

I didnt say he could win. I think the parcours is good enough for him to possibly beat everyone else than Pogacar and maybe Evenepoel.

Maybe Pidcock on a super day is also better

I didn't say you said that. But I think you are implying he should race it. The question is: If he can't win, why should he race in Montreal?

 

[Berniece]

I didn't say you said that. But I think you are implying he should race it. The question is: If he can't win, why should he race in Montreal?

So we have a peloton of 3 riders then?

 

[Jagartrott]

Agreed. On LBL, would be great if Pogi decided to sit it out now that winning all the Monuments in the same year is off the table. Without Pogi MVDP would have a fighting chance of winning there. Wishful thinking though and I doubt MVDP goes there just to fight for a podium spot.

I don't think he is competitive in LBL even without Pogacar. Evenepoel, Seixas, Healy, Ciccone - he cannot follow those on the longer climbs. You'd have to have extremely passive riders for him to have a chance of a podium, but the current crop of riders isn't like that.

 

[Red Rick]

I didn't say you said that. But I think you are implying he should race it. The question is: If he can't win, why should he race in Montreal?

No other valuable targets

 

[canina82]

No other valuable targets

Why not the Vuelta? Plenty of stages (3 or 4) where he can win.

 

[gavia88]

for what instead , bingobongo benelux tour ?

he can take it easy and chill most of the race while helping phil and then target paris

to race on the MTB

 

[Axel Hangleck]

No other valuable targets

Hmmm.....have you heard of MTB? The XCO Worlds is a big aim.......maybe he should target it properly.........

 

[Sciatic]

Doesn’t Mathieu seem almost too casual here? In his interview afterward he said he knew his race was over, despite the fact he chased hard the rest of the race.

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[Krzysztof_O]

Well, no monuments for the first time since 2021 is poor for an ATG rider like him. Obviously he had really bad luck in PR (unlike previous years), which is a part of the game there. In terms of form he still looked very good during cobbled monuments (i.e. the strongest in PR and 2nd strongest in RVV).

 

[Red Rick]

Doesn’t Mathieu seem almost too casual here? In his interview afterward he said he knew his race was over, despite the fact he chased hard the rest of the race.

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His teammate was fixing the bike. He could run in there but he wouldn't have been able to start back any faster unless he could yoink it out of his teammates hands and fix it himself faster

 

[RealKwaremonster]

Well, no monuments for the first time since 2021 is poor for an ATG rider like him. Obviously he had really bad luck in PR (unlike previous years), which is a part of the game there. In terms of form he still looked very good during cobbled monuments (i.e. the strongest in PR and 2nd strongest in RVV).

Not really. This is bound to happen sometimes. Look at Boonen and Cancellara, many times it didnt go their way when they were favourites. Boonen had three springs without monument victories between his first and his last monument win and Cancellara 4. Mathieu, if he ever wins a monument again, is now at 2.

This year was just a bad cocktail of bad luck and one rival being in better shape.

To immediately class his spring as poor given 2nd in Flanders and a few high profile victories goes a bit far imo.

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

I think MvdP was really good in the 3 monuments and had, as always in the last couple of years, the potential to win all 3 of them with highest chances in Roubaix (without bad luck he would have been in the mix, 100% sure) but also chances in MSR and Flanders if riding a bit more conservative.
If anything, he rode a bit too active in MSR between Cipressa and Poggio (but mainly the crash was the culprit for him being a bit cooked on Cipressa and the run-in), and he rode a bit too active too soon with Pog in Flanders.

This spring just goes to show how lucky he has been in some previous seasons in terms of not crashing, not having mechanicals, but of course he made his luck so many times by just riding away from it all and thus staying out of danger (crashes, flat tires,...).

All small details but the difference in outcome is huge. Also, racing against someone like Pog narrows down the margin of error (both in terms of bad luck and in terms of applying sound racing tactics).

 

[jono]

From today's interview in A Diario AS (Spanish):

And what about his upcoming race schedule? He didn't say anything after finishing Roubaix.

We're preparing my program for the Tour de France, which I will definitely be participating in. We need to see which races I'll do before I go there ( July 4th, starting in Barcelona ), and it's likely that some of them will be mountain bike races. Obviously, the Tour is the main focus in the coming weeks.

And what about the Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole? (It takes place at the end of August)

Yes, it's very possible. It's true that the Tour de France is quite close to its end, but I think I can arrive in top form and give my best.

If the mountain bike races he is considering racing prior to the Tour are going to be World Cups, it doesn't leave a lot of options.

And a bit disappointing that he has to bother with the Tour at all.

 

[dazaau]

From today's interview in A Diario AS (Spanish):



If the mountain bike races he is considering racing prior to the Tour are going to be World Cups, it doesn't leave a lot of options.

And a bit disappointing that he has to bother with the Tour at all.

I'm all about road cycling but I agree. Unless he is going to entertain us at the tour I would prefer he just gets the mountain bike dream done and save us watching lead outs for Jasper.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

I personally think he has missed his chance to win the mtb worlds. Just a feeling.

If he was going to do it, it would have probably been if we had a full 2020 season. Pidcock came along in 2021 and took it to a new level.

 

[gavia88]

especially disappointing because in this years Tour the France he barely has any business. Exact for maybe the final stage, none of the stages is made for his type of rider. So, it's a waste to focus on the tour. Why not a full MTB season to give his WC dream a change? Next year the tour is maybe more favorable for him again.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

It seems he can’t fully commit to a summer on the MTB which he needs to get anywhere near challenging the regular XCO riders, or Pidcock/ Hatherly…….
He needs time training & racing the MTB as his skills were rusty last year…..riding the Tour won’t help with this.

Since his 2019 season he’s done far too little MTB racing, and a race or two the odd season isn’t good enough. If it really is a big aim, then show it.

I think we’ll be here next season saying the same thing…….

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I personally think he has missed his chance to win the mtb worlds. Just a feeling.

If he was going to do it, it would have probably been if we had a full 2020 season. Pidcock came along in 2021 and took it to a new level.

I think he’d have gone close in 2019 had he ridden the MTB Worlds……and riding the final World Cup at Snowshoe could have won the Overall……he finished 2nd, despite missing two rounds.

But the Road Worlds in Harrogate took priority, and since then MTB has been put on the backburner.

 

[Red Rick]

TdF is a gigantic waste of time. If you want to do MTB, go do MTB. If you want to do road, just go to the WC, or yolo around in the Vuelta where you can actually win a few stages.

 

[jono]

I guess if he's looking at XC World Cups prior to the Tour, Nove Mesto (22-24 May) seems like a good met. The June World Cups in Leogang (12-14 June ) and Lenzerheide (19-21 June) likely conflict with whichever prep stage race he lines up at, unless he comes into the Tour without having raced a road bike since April, which I'm fine with.

 

[gavia88]

TdF is a gigantic waste of time. If you want to do MTB, go do MTB. If you want to do road, just go to the WC, or yolo around in the Vuelta where you can actually win a few stages.

exactly, especially this Tour without his type of stages, a waste of time. WC is to hard (with Pog in shape at least), EC probably the same as it will be Pogacer tailered. With this route I don't see him winning any stage in the tour. And normally he ends his season early. So, I'm not seeing him winning anything big by not making choses.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Stage 2, 3, 4, 9, 17 and 21 all look like decent stages for MVDP. Last year was an outlier, he will never see such a good week 1 route again, but this year definitely has options for a rider like him.

 

[Red Rick]

Stage 2, 3, 4, 9, 17 and 21 all look like decent stages for MVDP. Last year was an outlier, he will never see such a good week 1 route again, but this year definitely has options for a rider like him.

Van der Poel has basically never had much success in either TdF breakaways or the medium mountains in general. Plus he tends to really run out of gas during a GT.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Most interesting stages for him are early on so there's that, but if he commits to TdF, he definitely need his climbing legs, otherwise there's nothing this race outside of 17 and 21. Stage 5 also looks inteesting, but probably not hilly enough to make a difference.