That was peak mvdp in those weeks. Wc cx, this dominant display, crazy attack with narvaez in Kuurne, thermonuclear at strade and two stage wins at Tirreno. That last stage win at Tirreno costed him the best form of his life though.
He wasnt too bad at the tdf though was he. stage 2? that was insane. going twice. then the time trial etc. Hes always in form. after the tdf he just had back issues and it hampered him a bit at the worlds. eventhough he didnt do bad there.
@@D0nKeY after illness in tour de suisse and preparing more specifically for mtb. The scary thing for the others is that he wasn't 100% in tdf. Even though that sounds ridiculous I must admit.
He only won the WC CX because Wout had a flat tire while leading the race. VDP was making mistakes left & right before Wout's flat tire (like often happens when he is put under pressure).
@@soulripper31 lol dont be silly dude. Did you watch that race? mvdp crashed. came back. wout had a flat. came back. Then mvdp rode away each lap.. he gained each lap.. nothing to do with the flat did it. or did wout have a flat each lap?
Mmm, interesting question, but I think the main problem might be mvdp's character: to be an ideal sprinter you need to follow other wheels for 4-5 hours straight, and only ride in the wind for about 100-200 meters. But that's not mvdp's style: if he's bored during a race he'd rather attack with 100km to go and loose than sitting in the wheel of his teammates for hours and win. He even said in interviews that he enjoys mountainbiking more than road racing, so I'd imagine sprint stages are really boring for him. Also, he's practically half Belgian, and here in Belgium bunch sprints are not considered that important. If you want to be one of the greats, you need to be a Flandrien instead of a sprinter, so that might be a thing too.
@@blackkhawkk Agree. I used to race off road in Alaska and while I would do the occasional road race, it was boring. Off road requires more skill and riding trails is endlessly entertaining; you never get time to zone out. You always have to be present and aware of what’s going on. You don’t get to bunnyhop logs at speed on a road bike or fly off jumps (and this was back in the 90s; I would bet it’s even more fun now with the better bikes).
yeah probably the fastest puncheur. I mean Strade Bianche is a prime example. Beating alaphillipe whos probably also considered one the best at those punchy finishes.
Have said it before: it is a wonderful time to be a cycling fan. So much talent in the ranks. Thx for the analysis. Watching this channel has increased my knowledge of the sport 100-fold.
More than seeing him contesting in a bunch sprints in GTs, I would like to dee MVDP battling for ITT. I think he got the power to compete against top tier TT riders.
Could he be a top sprinter? Hard to say. If he fully commits to it maybe. However personally I think that it is more his explosiveness he gets it from, which is why he sprints great in a reduced group or up a slope. However his top speed and holding that honestly seems to be not as great as other top 5 sprinters imo, which might be one of the reasons he doesn't participate in bunch sprints. Yes, he can achieve high power and sustain it for a time in some races, but honestly these tend to be his great days and might not happen with regular intervals as you expect for sprinters. With Van Aert for example I'd argue it being kind of the opposite, he has a great top speed and can maintain it, but his explosiveness is arguably less than some other riders, which is why he struggles more if the initial speed is low (like in really small groups with no teammate), but shines when he has a lead out/initial speed is high, like in bunch sprints. Next to that there is ofcourse MvdP's positioning, which often has been a problem in the last few years, due to which he usually has to waste more energy than necessary or just doesn't come into play. In the end I think MvdP could potentially break in the top 5 of almost all road disciplines (sprinting, ITT, punchy, ...), but for several of these he'd have to really prioritise them, which might cause other things to be less good and it definitely would demand him to focus more on road racing and maybe dropping somethings he really likes such as MTB.
I totally agree, and on top of that I think MvdP is the kind of rider that needs to throw his energy around in a course to dominate it. I think being a high top speed sprinter doesn't fit with his style or character at all. Preserving as much energy till the end to do the fastest last 250 meters doens't fit him I think. He is more about wearing everyone out and when everybody is 'riding on their gums' (as they say in Dutch), he will have the best sprint out of everyone left
I think he is was to good in his junior years and early pro. Because of that he never had to ride tactical to preserve his legs, his legs are to good to have a need for that. Then when he is a bit lesser like worldchamps this year maiby also roubaix, then he you can see the bad positions he rides in. Also he let him self to be pushed back in the group a lot..... He can get way more out of himself if he rides a bit smarter :(
Well Mørkøv had already won world tour sprints by this time. He actually won a stage in la vuelta years ago, but people will probably only remember that Tony Martin got caught by the peloton like 70 meters before the finish line xD
I really think he can win sprint stages in the grand tours, only problem is his positioning it is very bad… in an uphill sprint ( like cauwberg) there is no one even close to him cuz he is that explosief
I think bunch sprinters are a lot like track and field sprinters. The form can stay very high across a season, but I think it's about fine tuning routine and getting high level repetitions. Even the best sprinters need a lot of races to get mentally sharp. They're creatures of habit and analyze everything to a high degree. I don't think Mathieu is like that, nor would he enjoy committing to all the minutiae of bunch sprinting. It seems like he much prefers the simplicity of watt bombing other riders on short hills.
MvdP could absolutely be a top 5 sprinter if he was dedicated to it. I think I’d put him top 10 now just based on there being a bit of a shortage of really good bunch sprinters.
"That last stage win at Tirreno cost him the best form of his life though". Agree with this comment, digging too deep for this stage win, cost him his Spring campaign
The sprint in UAE tour MVP didn't really hold his line in the final 150m IMO. I don't think he should focus on bunch sprints, he has more all around power and more chances to win races that aren't bunch type
Yes it absolutely did not hold his line, which is less important with such a small pack but its one of the reasons why I think he wouldn't even enjoy being a large pack sprinter, because he has to constrain himself to only explode in the last 300 meters of a race plus only in a straight line. I don't think he'd ever want to commit to that
7:52 What is up with that Strava overlay? We've got: power (watts) - ok; energy (kilojoules) - glad that someone else realised that calories are deprecated; rate of energy (kilojoules per hour) - eh? Energy over time is power, you already showed that. 3452 kJ/h is 958.9 W though. What is going on?
MVDP never going to be a T5 bunch sprinter- watts are there like you said, but the positioning isn't something simple he can fix just by trying one time
More explosive than Wout, I don't think he is actually faster if it is just sprinting in a peloton or at high speed. Even in the Ronde where Mathieu won in a sprint, Wout was coming over him despite both starting the sprint at almost the exact same time, had the sprint started 25-50m earlier, Wout would have gone over him.
Yes it was. It didnt endanger Morkov because he was so far behind so it wasn't a contravention of the UCI rule on it, but I personally believe riders should just be sprinting straight in that situation because MVDP doesnt know Morkov isnt coming up inside him on the barriers
Could he be a top 5 GT sprinter? For sure. That engine with that peak power, I doubt he would struggle to transition to that type of role if he focused on it. But why would he? He doesn't need to resort to risking a season for a win with a bunch sprint. Is he going to win 5 stages at the TdF with that attitude? Probably not, but last I heard Cavendish won't be racing anytime soon and VdP is starting his CX program in a few weeks.
I think van der Poel's best chance at bunch sprints is to go like Peter Sagan did, which is to say that his team needs to get him to the front and then he surfs the wheels. Sagan never got a true train to follow, and he never was the fastest sprinter anyway; he won on guile as much as anything else in bunch sprints. Van der Poel probably finds it too risky, with too little reward, to truly commit to those bunch sprints. The likes of Kittel, Cavendish, Ewan, Jakobsen, etc. depend on them; while he does not. He goes to win mountain biking, cross-bike, and road racing classics. Very few of those are good for pure sprinters, except the Milan-San Remo Monument and some World Championship routes. To be a pure sprinter, you need to concentrate on stage wins. That is very different...
Sorry, but second video I am trying to follow and it's just not exciting enough to keep looking. I would try to put more excitement in the explanations and editing the journey.
Sure he could do it, has the bike skills and power for sure. With targetting bunch sprints on a regular basis he would gain the necessary tactical skills that he may lack at this moment. He seems to care more about winning in a solo gladiator mode though, and this is much safer than risking everything on the line. Especially when being probably the nr. 1 classics guy in the world (among other things). If you ask me he should quit cyclocross, and target the classics harder as he may have the ability to win all five monuments.
VDP is most unlikely to try turn hús racing style into a sprinter, too much of a gamble on multiple levels. He found himself in the front of 6 crosswinds splits and wanted to race. VDP was not brought to the front by a QS rider, he was going to the front anyway, that's what happens when you race, you look for good positions if you have good legs.
I am 100% MvdP fan, but i don't think he can be a better bunchsprinter than WvA... but if he wants it and alpecin dont take merlier or phillipsen to the tour, MvdP could win green for sure
It’d be close who has the better watts to sprint. I think MVDP has a better acceleration but WVA holds speed well. MVDP is able to repeat sprints better imo so he can go for sprint points and contest stage finishes.
