Wout van Aert appreciation thread

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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,734
    edited June 2022
    I do marvel at the terrain on which WvA can win. Basically any bar a MTF
    _
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,932
    rick_chasey said:

    I do marvel at the terrain on which WvA can win. Basically any bar a MTF

    He wins on rolling terrain that grinds down the pure sprinters.
    Like every stage this Dauphine.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,734
    And TTs, and flat sprints, and mountain stages.
    _
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,648
    His stats for this season are astonishingly consistent (especially if you include his cyclocross results)
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 5,846
    Mvdp numbers are positively bonkers! :#

    https://forum.intervals.icu/t/follow-mvdp-on-intervals-icu/3575
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,932
    rick_chasey said:

    And TTs, and flat sprints, and mountain stages.

    Except when the 2 best riders of their generation are in the field, coz WvA don't beat MvdP or Pog
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,734
    Dorset_Boy said:

    rick_chasey said:

    And TTs, and flat sprints, and mountain stages.

    Except when the 2 best riders of their generation are in the field, coz WvA don't beat MvdP or Pog
    He beat Pog in the Tour TT tbf.

    And won on the champs. And when they went twice up Ventoux.

    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    WVA is a combination of Boonen and Cancellara, with Tom's sprinting and Fabian's TT (and climbing), but as yet with neither's win or nothing mentality.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,734
    RichN95. said:

    WVA is a combination of Boonen and Cancellara, with Tom's sprinting and Fabian's TT (and climbing), but as yet with neither's win or nothing mentality.

    He’d win a lot more at quickstep
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    rick_chasey said:

    RichN95. said:

    WVA is a combination of Boonen and Cancellara, with Tom's sprinting and Fabian's TT (and climbing), but as yet with neither's win or nothing mentality.

    He’d win a lot more at quickstep
    Agreed. Jumbo's general philosophy seems to be very risk averse.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,342
    edited June 2022
    rick_chasey said:

    RichN95. said:

    WVA is a combination of Boonen and Cancellara, with Tom's sprinting and Fabian's TT (and climbing), but as yet with neither's win or nothing mentality.

    He’d win a lot more at quickstep
    So would MvdP and everyone else. Except Sep. 😛
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,734
    edited July 2022
    Time for a float me thinks

    He’s a top tier classics rider, but his ability in a grand tour is something I’ve just not seen before.
    _
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,114
    Hard agree. I don't think I've ever seen someone involved so much in the action day in, day out in a GT before.
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,342
    It's turning out to be a more interesting version of Boonen vs. Cancellara
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,328
    Denmark sends thanks
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,864
    It's hard to think of a cyclist better than WvA
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    I don't know if I read it on here on the Twitter but I thought it spot on


    'He burns so many matches, but seems to have been born in a match factory'


    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,864
    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,744
    It's be great to see him make a proper effort to win the Tour. I doubt he will and I don't really think he should - but it'd be fascinating to see if he could.

    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,194
    mididoctors said:

    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic

    Sky were criticised for being too dominant, which was bad, but now another super team is even more dominant, which is good?
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,815
    r0bh said:

    mididoctors said:

    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic

    Sky were criticised for being too dominant, which was bad, but now another super team is even more dominant, which is good?
    Never underestimate the twisted logic of the average cycling fan.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,268
    r0bh said:

    mididoctors said:

    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic

    Sky were criticised for being too dominant, which was bad, but now another super team is even more dominant, which is good?
    I think Jumbo are dominant without killing the race. WvA is a showman and adds value to any race, I can't say the same for the Sky team (or US postal for what that matters). Their objective was to control the race and prevent any attack to Wiggins/Froome, until the last km. They made the TdF unbearable to watch. Jumbo haven't done that... I would say that without Jumbo, it would have been a pretty dull race, that Pogacar would have dominated without any real opposition.
    left the forum March 2023
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,262
    After the first week there were posts on here saying how boring it was to know that Pog was going to win for the next five years.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,864
    r0bh said:

    mididoctors said:

    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic

    Sky were criticised for being too dominant, which was bad, but now another super team is even more dominant, which is good?
    This because of stuff... Not least the two guys are close

    Real competition
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,864
    kingstongraham said:

    After the first week there were posts on here saying how boring it was to know that Pog was going to win for the next five years.

    This☝️

    There was a dramatic but not completely unforseen turn around
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,864
    edited July 2022
    It took ALL of jumbo ...including 2 genuine GC Contendors willing to go all in ...a superman WvA ..AND various errors/hubris by pog with a crippled team for jumbo to come out on top ( touch wood) . It wasn't easy AT ALL.

    Proper race that was
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,907
    mididoctors said:

    kingstongraham said:

    After the first week there were posts on here saying how boring it was to know that Pog was going to win for the next five years.

    This☝️

    There was a dramatic but not completely unforseen turn around
    I wonder if Pogacar will go easier in the spring from here on. There was a sense that he was doing Strada Bianchi, MSR, Flanders etc. because he thought the Tour would be a foregone conclusion.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    mididoctors said:

    r0bh said:

    mididoctors said:

    The post sky/froome era ...which I guess this is ....is fantastic

    Sky were criticised for being too dominant, which was bad, but now another super team is even more dominant, which is good?
    This because of stuff... Not least the two guys are close

    Real competition

    A reminder hear that Quintana dropped Froome in the third week in both 2013 and 2015. And he was completely isolated on one stage in 2103 with over 100km to go. Quintana and Contador actually beat him in the Vuelta. 2019 was very close until the avalanche stage with as many as five riders in contention.

    With the exception of one short attack by Thomas, Jumbo haven't been attacked once this Tour.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    phreak said:



    I wonder if Pogacar will go easier in the spring from here on. There was a sense that he was doing Strada Bianchi, MSR, Flanders etc. because he thought the Tour would be a foregone conclusion.


    I notice that the media people (e.g. David Millar) would proclaimed this to be the new era of cycling with riders doing all the races are now saying that it was naive for Pogacar to ride through the spring.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,932
    Froome attacked during his wins just as much as Vingegaard has. That's how he opened up his time gaps. Both subsequently defended those gaps. Sky by using their train, Jumbo by sticking Wout in each and every break, and having the best mountain domestiques left in the race to look after Jonas.

    The excitement has been Pogacar trying to gain the time back after he cracked on the Granon, and being a total racer in that regard.

    Jonas is a deserved winner as he has been the strongest in the race, and Jumbo's tactics in the way they have used WvA have played out perfectly, even though most thought those tactics were initially bonkers.

    I'd like to see WvA have a tilt at GC in a GT, though he'd need to drop the weight, but both Wiggins and Thomas did that. I don't know if he'd win, but it would be interesting to see how far he could get.

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