Mathieu Van Der Poel is coming...

[Greatestalltime]

Originally Posted by ddtn

The MVDP attack and Roglic finish are hugely inspiring. Heroic rides. They make cycling worth watching.

Now to drag this back to MVDP since it's his thread...

I think I've seen enough to see Van Der Poel as having the edge on WVA and a cut above Alaphilippe, in one day racing and for stage contention . Just seems to have more top end for longer. And I say this as a WVA fan – still think WVA is more rounded on the road especially longer races, as in a better teammate to have (I'm sure others will disagree). If you are a GT team, would you try to sign VDP? You kinda have to build the team around him. Would be interesting to find out if he can TT. I love the way he races but just find myself rooting for WVA every time they go head to head.

Now the question is, is this gonna be MVDP vs WVA vs Ganna for one days/monuments? From what I've seen Ganna will be a major contender once he switches onto these races. A supersized Cancellara.

Throw in Roglic, Pogacar, Alaphilippe... Good times!

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/r...ormance-437464

[ddtn]

Originally Posted by Greatestalltime

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/r...ormance-437464

Too bad he didn't try today but he's done enough this week.

WVA though. WOa.

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by ddtn

From what I've seen Ganna will be a major contender once he switches onto these races. A supersized Cancellara.

Throw in Roglic, Pogacar, Alaphilippe... Good times!

Ganna is nearly identically Boonen-sized at 6'4 180lbs

Wout is a a bit shorter at 6'2 and more like a plus-sized Cancellara.

This group reminds me of the Boonen/Cancellara/Flecha/Hushovd races, but instead it's Ganna/WVA/Julian/MVDP.

That said, Roubaix isn't a rookie's race and only WVA has ever finished inside the top 20 on the velodrome, while the others have either not raced it or finished out the back. They may be on form and super fast now, but a month from now on cobbles is a different game. You've got a bunch of guys who know how to ride this race, including past winners (Sagan and Dege) plus savvy, big, experienced guys like Vanmarke, Lampaert, Nils Politt, and then Stuyven and Asgreen who will no doubt be in the mix and likely sent up the road to force others to chase and give Alaphilippe reason to sit it.

Ok, sorry for the thread drift.....I've got P-R on the brain

[ddtn]

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

Ganna is nearly identically Boonen-sized at 6'4 180lbs

Wout is a a bit shorter at 6'2 and more like a plus-sized Cancellara.

This group reminds me of the Boonen/Cancellara/Flecha/Hushovd races, but instead it's Ganna/WVA/Julian/MVDP.

Agreed Boonen should be in this generational comparison. I look at it a bit differently however:

Ganna 193cm, 82kg
Boonen 192cm, 82kg
Van Aert 187cm, 78kg
Cancellera 186cm, 82kg

Boonen was a sprinter and one-day specialist. Though he did well in sprint stages early on, he gave no attention to other disciplines as he matured, other than the occasional TTT.

Cancellara had a decent sprint but wasn't the favorite against top shelf sprinters. He was an ITT god and did very well in world and grand tour races.

Ganna might resemble Boonen in his physique, but comes from track and TT, and rides much more like Cancellara and seems to have a lot of goals on track. A future hour record holder for sure.

WVA is a hybrid between Boonen and Cancellera – top sprinter, top time trialist (WC material I believe). He can pull away from the group, can win sprints from a bunch, can probably win short/flat World Tour races, is a super domestique on climbs, and is second only to VDP in CX.

MVDP at 184cm and 75kg can go in different directions on the road. I can't help but to think he would have GT ambitions.

Sorry to geek out on stats...

[Beldar77]

Originally Posted by ddtn

Sorry to geek out on stats...

I don't think you have geeked out tremendously on stats here. I'm sure you have more. I for one want more. I know procyclingstats has some more stats but they are really configured mostly around listing individual rider results.

The eurosport/GCN+ (or NBC Sports?) coverage here in the US spoke to some interesting stats examples like...
"in 2020 on climbs of greater than 4% and longer than 5KM XYZ finished in the top 3 X times out of Y" or "in group sprints of less than 20 XYZ won 3 out of 7".

If they gave attribution I missed it because I thought it was pro cycling stats but I cannot find that on their website.

Does anyone know if this is them or is it another stats service? I would love to see that.

[azrider]

Originally Posted by ddtn

Cancellara had a decent sprint..

Cancellara had the LONGEST sprint on record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJNLMYpr2TM

[GregL]

Originally Posted by azrider

Cancellara had the LONGEST sprint on record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJNLMYpr2TM

I always love that video! Only Fabs could ride an entire peloton off his wheel with his hands on the hoods and never standing up. Pure power!

Greg

[KJMUNC]

That's what happens when you let a TT specialist have a little bit of rope and mis-time the sprint.....another 50m and they'd have overtaken him.

1st time hearing Paul's voice in a while......miss that dude on the broadcasts

[reuben]

Originally Posted by GregL

I always love that video! Only Fabs could ride an entire peloton off his wheel with his hands on the hoods and never standing up. Pure power!

Dude was awesome. I read somewhere that he typically rode 177mm crank arms, at least for the classics.

You don't get a nickname like Spartacus for nothing.

Now you know why I'm having fantasy races in my head between van der Poel, van Aert, and Cancellara.

Of course, you could throw in the likes of Kelly and Merckx as well...

Merckx, van der Poel, and Cancellara. What a race that would be.

[Bici-Sonora]

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

That's what happens when you let a TT specialist have a little bit of rope and mis-time the sprint.....another 50m and they'd have overtaken him.

1st time hearing Paul's voice in a while......miss that dude on the broadcasts

I agree, Paul's voice brings back all kinds of good memories. And, the sounds of cheering from cycling fans packing the barriers at the line. Looking forward to hearing that again sometime.

[Elefantino]

Tomorrow (March 18) is Cancellara's birthday. My wife celebrates it every year because she was/is a huge Fabian fan.

It's also mine but that is inconsequential.

[dougefresh]

Originally Posted by dougefresh

From what I’ve seen of the Tokyo Olympics mtb track and the carnage the test event brought, a spring racing on the road isn’t what he needs to win there.

But my money is on him to bag at least one monument on the road this year.

This man is truly amazing, supreme kudos to his time in Yellow and the spring races but shoulda spent more time on the fat tires in the lead up to this course.

[flying]

Originally Posted by dougefresh

This man is truly amazing, supreme kudos to his time in Yellow and the spring races but shoulda spent more time on the fat tires in the lead up to this course.

I agree amazing rider & think 99.9% he would have gotten one of the three medals had he stayed on ...but that is racing too

But I do not think the fact he crashed had anything to do with how much time he spent of fat tires

It was just that his head expected one thing (a ramp) & the course change/removal of ramp was the reality his head was not ready for.

Yes that was all on him or communication between him & others but had nothing to do with fat tire/off road skills where he is one of the few aliens

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by flying

I agree amazing rider & think 99.9% he would have gotten one of the three medals had he stayed on ...but that is racing too

But I do not think the fact he crashed had anything to do with how much time he spent of fat tires

It was just that his head expected one thing (a ramp) & the course change/removal of ramp was the reality his head was not ready for.

Yes that was all on him or communication between him & others but had nothing to do with fat tire/off road skills where he is one of the few aliens

Jolanda i think was expecting ramp too. But she has incredible MTB skillz

[joosttx]