Guys! You all miss the point regarding the Belgians in this race. This race was criticized a lot in our country … and amongst riders and observers. What happened is very simple: 3 of the belgian’s in the chasing group are all riding in the same pro team as Van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) . All those guys are pro riding for him the all season. They all raced for Matthieu during that gravel world race and not as a team. The only one ( Stuyven) riding for Lidl Trek was blocked by the others . He was mad after the race. Gravel world UCi is fair new. It was a first world race in Belgium. There was no team , no coach / manager with clear tactics. And Alepcin managed the place as much riders (Belgians) as they could to help Matthieu Vanderpoel ( Ned) win this race. They even admitted at the end with dum post race interviews. That being said, Matthieu was the strongest guy. Regarding the tracks, those are my weekly tracks for gravel. I made a big part of the track last Sunday. I can tell you it was NOT an easy one. We were all fooled by the amazing speed of those’d guys. I can not even imagine how they can go that fast on those tracks. There are wholes, stones, bad cobblestones sometimes… lot’s of (short) extreme ups and downs. Too short to get them on the elevation maps… but though to ride fast on a 185 km track.
Maybe he is from that area, be careful because some owners let their dogs out on their own and this dog doesn't resist anyhow, used to people? I would take him to the vet to look if he is chipped
It was a weak field with 1 great rider , Van Der Pole and the Belgians. I agree that other nations have much better roads for a gravel or rough road race! Peter Sagan grew up on gravel roads in Slovakia. That and great tactics is why he was a dominate racer. Van Der Pole has similar skills to Sagan and could win numerous World Championships like Sagan. .
Pidcock didn't do it because he's very selective on what he does so he can win, on this track, Pidcock would eat dust compared to the power output of the size of MVDP . This is why Pidcock gets too much praise, he just rides multiple discipline according to track, just look at his stats in XC MTB etc.
Man… They were all riding gravel bikes. And I can assure this track is tough . I live there, those are my all around tracks. I made 65 km of the ciurcuit last Sunday … and I can tell is was a real gravel though track. We’re all fooled by the crazy speed on TV.
This is a message mostly for Pedaler. Since you made an effort to correct you pronounciation of the name Tadej's name here is another correction. For both the first and the last name the accent is on the second syllable.
Guys out one thing in your head, numbers mean nothing if the other guy is just waaaay to strong 😉 Belgium could do anything but the outcome would be the same, MVP wining the jersey.
In Europe gavel means just in between the MTB (very technical) and road cycling (very aerobe). Sort of cross country cycling which is very attractive to watch. In US gravel means very long straights, high depence on luck with numerous flats and like road racing very aerobe and low technical. Kind of a romantic and heroïc look to it when you see them struggle in the dust on seemingly end less roads but I am personally very happy with these European versions. Even though strade Bianchi is a lot prettier than going through parcs and parking garages in Leuven. That was too much of a circus. We have the cyclocross for that.
@@stefanschopplein9270 It was a post race interview. It was Maddy Nutt, one of the British pro field. She did well at Migration Gravel in Africa and Traka in Spain. Both events are longer and the terrain had more of a effect on the race. As I said it was more of a joke than a direct criticism. In retrospective her comment is being reflected by lot of people.
MVDP saves his season after winning Flanders, Paris Roubaix, E3, cleaning up at cyclocross... This is probably the 'least important' of his wins this season!
