Wout van Aert

[F_Cance]

Guess it's time for his own thread.

Top 5 classics rider? Check
Top 5 time trialler? Check
Top 20 sprinter? Check
Top 20 climber at the Tour? Check

 

[BlueRoads]

Yes... hate to say that, but it's not something I can believe anymore. If he does not drop his level significantly after this Tour he must be the strongest rider I have ever seen (apart from some guys who are doped as ***)
He's not even just Top20 as a sprinter, more like Top3. And not Top20 climber, but more like Top10. Plus an amazing time trialler.

 

[Parker]

Just like Sean Kelly? Check

 

[BlueRoads]

Well, Sean Kelly was another time. I never saw him myself. Neither did I watch Merckx. I would think conditions have changed a lot, but of course I can only compare riders from mid 90s on.

 

[roundabout]

Sean Kelly. Tested positive twice. Check,

 

[macbindle]

Just like Sean Kelly? Check

And, to some extent Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault

 

[Alexandre B.]

Eradicate this guy from the sport.

 

[macbindle]

Sean Kelly. Tested positive twice. Check,

Yes. Different era, though, in relation to how doping positives were viewed

 

[Mayomaniac]

Being his roommate must be really hard, the guy is probably glowing in the dark.
Most obvious guy in the whole Tour peloton, that says something...

 

[Hellyea]

He is gonna win tomorrow, on Saturday in ITT and on Champs on Sunday and people will still grace the ground he walks on and completely believe how fantastic and talented he is. Lol, he's like Merckx in an apparently very clean era and in an incredible competition. Fking joke.

 

[Breh]

Absolutely disgusting

 

[macbindle]

Also extremely talented

...doping or not

 

[Alexandre B.]

Him crashing out of the Tour last year led him to transform his body like Jalabert did after Armentières.

Hard work and dedication...

 

[Krokro]

He has great talent and it's with great sadness that I come to post here because he's one of my fav rider of those last years..

But please, I can't bear this anymore. It's really too much to be true. Or indeed he's one genius of this era.

 

[red_flanders]

Guess it's time for his own thread.

Top 5 classics rider? Check
Top 5 time trialler? Check
Top 20 sprinter? Check
Top 20 climber at the Tour? Check

Well...

One can't really dope themselves into all that, can they? I mean you can't really take a top sprinter and dope them into a super-dom for the climbing stages, or take a climber and dope them into being a sprinter. At least I've not seen it.

The guy is talented as all get out, as his palmares in road and CX indicate. I'd be stunned if he were clean, but then I'd be stunned if anyone at the sharp end of GT's was clean, and most top classics riders as well. Now, the last 10 years, or the 20 before that. I think things have gone up several degrees this year, but other than that, same as it ever was...

 

[roundabout]

There is a Jalabert reference literally 2 posts above.

 

[roundabout]

Oh and given that he was likely significantly the heaviest rider in the main group today, he is the number 1 favorite for the ITT on Saturday if he is allowed to go 100%.

 

[Red Rick]

Being his roommate must be really hard, the guy is probably glowing in the dark.
Most obvious guy in the whole Tour peloton, that says something...

So that's what the discolored hair is awout.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So that's what the discolored hair is awout.

Yes, slowly turning into Festina Virenque or 1998 Pantani (blonde goatee).

 

[Bardamu]

I was told he can do it all because of Cyclocross.

 

[Keram]

Him crashing out of the Tour last year led him to transform his body like Jalabert did after Armentières.

Hard work and dedication...

He still sprint like before crash and TT as well. He add incredible climbing to his skillset but lost anything from his other strenghts.

 

[Netserk]

Oh and given that he was likely significantly the heaviest rider in the main group today, he is the number 1 favorite for the ITT on Saturday if he is allowed to go 100%.

I'm not so sure. Roglic seemed to have quite some in the tank today. I hope they both go full gas in the ITT.

 

[Koronin]

He's over the top at this point.

 

[Cookster15]

Also extremely talented

...doping or not

I guess we can say Hulk Hogan in fake wrestling was extremely talented. Similar concept. The point is WVA is doing stuff he has never shown before, and unlike other support riders (e.g. Michał Kwiatkowski at Sky / Ineos) hasn't dropped away in the last kilometers of big climbs in the high mountains.

 

[JosephK]

I guess we can say Hulk Hogan in fake wrestling was extremely talented. Similar concept. The point is WVA is doing stuff he has never shown before, and unlike other support riders (e.g. Michał Kwiatkowski at Sky / Ineos) hasn't dropped away in the last kilometers of big climbs in the high mountains.

Okay, he hasn't dropped away at the finale of the big climbs . . . but he did drop Dumoulin once.