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Did you miss the Sky mountain train 2012-2019?
Yes, they were strong squads but we were still treated to the sight of people like EBH, Thomas, Poels pulling up the mountains
Which scientific evidence is there for that?Weight is not the issue here. He could be 80, 75, 70, that is not the point. The point is, if you're so good in the mountains, and he is (you can't drop Valverde, Uran and Yates if you're not, or drive the peloton for 10km on Col de la Loze), you can't be so powerful on the flat, so explosive on the hills, and so fast in the sprint. You just can't do all these things at the same time, no matter how much you weight. I never saw it in my life.
It has happened many times in the past. Riders winning sprints and mountain stages and TTs.Weight is not the issue here. He could be 80, 75, 70, that is not the point. The point is, if you're so good in the mountains, and he is (you can't drop Valverde, Uran and Yates if you're not, or drive the peloton for 10km on Col de la Loze), you can't be so powerful on the flat, so explosive on the hills, and so fast in the sprint. You just can't do all these things at the same time, no matter how much you weight. I never saw it in my life.
When was the last time it happened?It has happened many times in the past. Riders winning sprints and mountain stages and TTs.
And Van Aert is not the best in anything: not the best sprinter, not the best puncheur, not the best TTer, (certainly) not the best climber.
When was the last time it happened?
Boason Hagen won ITT's, bunchsprints and had a similar role in the Sky train.When was the last time it happened?
If Van Aert further develops all the potential he is showing, maybe one in 5-10 years time should compare him to Jalabert?When was the last time it happened?
With all 8 of them happily pulling what was left of the peloton over the cols.A lot of those squads had 8 riders to share the work for the team leader.
the major difference between jalabert and WvA is that jalabert never did those things at the same time,
First: weight is a key issue. He could be 80, well, if he was 80, we wouldn't talk about him, because you wouldn't even have seen him on the Poggio close to Alaphilippe. He would have been dropped like a stone (or like a Bennett). I cannot overstress this enough: weight is a key factor.Weight is not the issue here. He could be 80, 75, 70, that is not the point. The point is, if you're so good in the mountains, and he is (you can't drop Valverde, Uran and Yates if you're not, or drive the peloton for 10km on Col de la Loze), you can't be so powerful on the flat, so explosive on the hills, and so fast in the sprint. You just can't do all these things at the same time, no matter how much you weight. I never saw it in my life.
Completely agree with all this; it's something that some people just don't seem to grasp. And it's the whole reason why the concept of a domestique works in cycling. They put in a steady above threshold effort for x amount of minutes and then they crack. It's not comparable to the guys riding GC who have to pace themselves all day every day. Or even comparable with the likes of Hirschi, Carapaz or Martinez pacing their efforts to win from a break.People here fail to understand the difference between doing your job and having to let go the moment the race really starts is much, much easier for several reasons:
- You are literally (like WvA on Col de Loze) doing 2/3rds of the workout the GC guys are doing;
- You are pulling, so you set the pace. Other riders won't suddenly take over when you go a bit slower for 50 meters, as long as the average pace is high enough. It is so much easier to set a given pace, than to answer attacks, or accelerate (when you know you should still be able to counter attacks).
- You can let go the moment you feel like you gave it all. That's much much easier mentally than being a GC guy who can never let go until the finish, or even feels bad, giving it a 100%, because he gets dropped. WvA never felt bad when he got dropped. Mentally he had a free ride.
It's a 16-17 minute effort (not a 'true' +30 minute 1st or HC climbers effort), and he clearly saved himself on the flat in order to be fresher for the climb. Just look at his intermediate times (I remember he already conceded 40 seconds at one of the intermetiate time checks compared to Cavagna, who did the climb on his TT bike).Third time on Planche yesterday.
He was clearly pacing himself on the flat part, unlike Dumoulin, Pogacar, Cavagna etc, who were up to 50s faster before the climb, so he was clearly saving himself for the climb. So he started the climb fresher than the others.42 seconds slower than Pogacar and 20 seconds slower than Porte on the climb.
And yes, it's still is extraordinary for a rider who can take very top positions in most bunch sprints.