Mathieu Van Der Poel Withdraws from the Tour de France to Begin Olympic Preparation
Mathieu Van Der Poel has withdrawn from the Tour de France to begin his Olympic preparation after spending six days in the leader’s Yellow Jersey.
Van Der Poel took the lead of the biggest race in cycling on the second day and held it through the next week or racing. The Dutchman was expected to lose the lead in the time trial on Stage 5 but produced a huge performance to finish fifth on the day and retain the lead.
Van Der Poel relinquished the jersey yesterday in the first mountain stage where his relative bulk put him at a distinct disadvantage. The jersey is now being worn by Tadej Pogacar who put more than three minutes into his General Classification rivals on the Col de la Colombiere in the Alps.
Van Der Poel said in an interview this morning, “It has been an amazing week for me and the team, we’ve won two stages and we’ve had Yellow for six days. It was my first Grand Tour and I think we can be really proud of that.
“Unfortunately I will not start today, we decided with the team that it’s in my best interest to quit the race and focus on the Olympics now.
“Due to Corona it was impossible for me to do the whole Tour and then be at my top game at Tokyo. I guess I had one week and I had an amazing week so I’ll be back next year to go to Paris.”
Van Der Poel will now rest up and begin his Tokyo preparation. He will race the Olympic final on July 26 where he will be lining up against Tom Pidcock, Mathias Flueckiger, Nino Schurter and more in the hunt for the gold medal.
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Pulling out of the tour today was smart. Brutal, dangerous and cold. Last thing he needs is to get sick or crash. If the olympics are your goal, leaving the tour before today’s stage was very smart.
Let’s not kid around though, MvDP is a real badass, but he’s not a contender fior the GC in a grand tour. That’s a completely different breed of cyclist.
Where do you get that? He rode like a mad man knowing he was limiting his days and to hold the yellow jersey as long as he could.
If he was able to conserve energy and ride within himself he would have been fine. Not a GC contender, but well within himself to finish the TdF.
On the other hand, it was certainly not “sponsor pressure” that got him into yellow in the first place,
He didn't want to race the TDF in teh first place. He was told by the team that he had to and being the thorough professional that he is he went and did his job.
You all have to remember teh dude is only 21/22. He isn't even close to being fully developed. Not until his late 20's will we see his full potential. Big Mig, Miguel Indurain was 6' 3" and 80+kg and he could smash them in the hills (granted probably chock full of extra blood but that's speculation given teh time frame). MVP has all teh prerequistes at his age to abe a future tour champion if he wanted to.
Yes, he sat up. At that point he was already ten minutes down. At the end it was 20 minutes. And if not in that stage, there would have come a mountain stage where he would have lost ten minutes to the GC riders.
He is a really good allrounder, but he is not a stage racer.
Presuming that was his plan all along its a bit stink. The unsung finisher at place 79 achieves more I say.
He was honest and upfront, everyone knew before he ever lined up for the race that he was racing 12 stages, MAX.
@FuzzyL: He was always going home before the rest day. Pyschologically having that mindset makes a huge difference on whether you are willing to suffer and hang on to the jersey. His training would not have been focussed on the mountains. It would have been for 1.5 hours of power for teh Olympics.
They said the same about Cadel when he started out on his road career. Great one week stage racer but never a GT winner. Look what he managed to do. Granted he is built in the classic GT winner physiology.
I disagree with you on MVP potential of being a GT winner. but that's cool. We can have different opinions.
For a person so capable, it would be expected to start accumulating world titles, and not "just" wins, unless we wants to be an improved Cipollini.
Having the yellow in some weeks is a feast!
But withdraw middle race, because I want an Olympic medal is a good excuse, and I forsee an emotive and simply one of the Best Race in 2021 or even for a long time.
There are so many TOP athletes in XCO, that I predict that the race will be or very tacticle (boring until the attack), or emotive (everyone in full power mode).
Either case, I look forward to watch and record such Race.
MVdP wins are nice and huge, but it lacks Titles.
Besides a vast collection of national championship titles, he‘s a four time cyclocross world champion, UCI overall World Cup winner, and on the road he has won one day classics of the highest category, like Amstel Gold Race or the Tour of Flanders… of course, his kind of schedule doesn‘t really allow aiming for something like the mountain bike WC overall, but I think with his talents he‘s better off competing in different events.
The most prestigious title he could probably aim for would be the road world championships - but he would need a course that favors the classics riders over the sprinters. Or he could go for an Olympic gold medal…
Yes, a Gold Medal would be very good.
He cannot win all, and what it seems is that he prefers wining isolated races, than sticking with a cycling disciple and rule it, as did Absolon, Nino in the last years.
Roadracing would be great, and even better, if he could win something, he could cut the BIAS of skinny riders, as did Induráin and Lance (yes...I know, don't beat the guy!) back then!
Jumping from disciple to disciple, can show how go he his, but personally, the "Greatones", win Championships, Tours, Vueltas, Giros
I was doing training rides for a week with Pogacar in France. It was fun!
sheesh
All that said, he’d have to drop 5-7 kilos to be a TdF contender, and he’d have to do that without losing much power.
MVP
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb; 11 st 11 lb)
Tadej Pogačar
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight 66 kg (146 lb; 10 st 6 lb)[1]
Tom Pidcock
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight 50 kg (110 lb)[2]
(5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
As in:
5'9"?
Let’s assume that everything is even. I weigh myself at the same time every morning, after I pee, but before breakfast. So when I say I’m 6’1” and weigh 159 pounds, it is what it is.
You take 2.2 pound shits? That seems out of control.
It’s the same lame joke that’s been said 1000 times, but has no basis in reality.
Pogacar is relatively heavy for a climber but I believe it might be the key to his success. He jokes about his baby fat himself, but he is the only guy that kept training in half a hurricane last may. He seems to be completely unaffected by bad weather. Would have believed it if he said he was Scottish.
Just master will do it.
And how do you control that? If you would penalize riders who are not injured from DNF, who could prevent them from dropping gazillions of time in a mountain stage so they arrive outside the time limit?
This way everybody won. The team had massive exposure, so did the Tour (even more than normal since we are talking about their race in a MTB website) and the rider managed to get his goals for this specific race and prepare the biggest objective of the year (the one for which he changed the ideal preparation so that he could race TdF).
as a fan, i want to see the big names in the race, regardless of their results. props to Froome for not giving up even tho he's clearly not going well this year. that's all. sort of like in the NBA when the stars just rest so they don't get injured. wish I could just not try to sell stuff to my clients so I wouldn't get rejected!
master of CX, XCC, XCO, road classics, single stages of stage races, time trial (5th in this field without specific training..)
On his “bulk” -- top grand tour riders competing for overall are unhealthy, borderline dead. To get their 20min power over 6 w/kg needed to fight for the top 10 they need to be stupid light. Top GC riders upper bodies don’t have the strength to manage downhills on an XC course.
Not every roadie has Chris Froome’s T-Rex arms, nor even every GC contender.
It shows that they’re different disciplines with different requirements and training goals.
There are plenty of riders in the TdF whose “main goal” is Olympic gold in a road cycling event who will ride to Paris, and finishing the tour will be effectively great training for that goal.
But competing in XC MTB requires different training, and favors riders with different strengths.
It’s silly to say the riders of one cycling discipline are “more” fit than another. MVDP’s didn’t earn and keep the yellow Jersey because other riders were taking it easy.
You said Pidcock gets put out the back on big tours? Which big tour has he ridden that gave you a frame of reference for that statement? Answer: none.
Look at the end of today's stage.
Ben O'Connor was yellow on the road at one point but... If you are in yellow and can attack at will to keep your GC then that is where the time is.
With 2km to go the gap was 7.30, by the top it was 6.02. the GC group were back at 6.35.
Roadies get paid lots as roadies like trick kit, get their bikes maintained at LBS and sell lots of bikes compared to mountain bikes.
The tour is the big one for many roadies. It's got a bigger prestige than the Olympics. Do you think VP would have kept with the GC riders today? He went out the back yesterday and there is nothing to suggest he would not have done the same today. Were his legs gone yesterday? Maybe.
As it stands just now it looks like the tour is going 1 way only.
The Olympics will be totally different as they are not the same teams, duration etc. It does make the Olympics interesting for sure. The Olympics are not really geared for GC riders either which is the focus for the big teams as that is where their big sponsorship comes from.
... Maybe I do come from a fanatical road racing family so totally get it.
My dad has probably only seen 10 to 12 tours. Followed a few as expedition leader for the RAF and had multiple satellite dishes around his house to pick up every race he could and watch them in any language.
I have only ever ridden with 2 tour riders though back in the day as a youngster on training camps.
Of course I know the importance of the spring classics as well as the olympics, team sky brits tried and failed to win the olympics, they were hyped over here, but they are not 1 day specialists and the shorter events don't suit them, the same as they don't suit the climbers who normally win the tour.
Best rider at the moment for the tour has to be Tadej Pogacar. and he won the only classic he did this year, and currently defending his TDF title.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mug1t8IY8kA (31s in the TT!).
Not from me...
Tadej Pogačar is the big favourite to win the Tour de France after he obliterated his opponents on the stage five time-trial and then in the Alps on stage eight. Seemingly, no one can touch Pogačar in the mountains at the moment
Roglic is still the top ranked rider followed by Pogacar then Van Aert with VP in 4th. Which is incredible as he is a multi discipline rider.
Does that mean anything when it comes to the olympics though, probably not as its a 1 day event and so different to races with teams.
waffle waffle waffle... people who look at roadie stuff are way too emotive about riders, kinda why I didnt really like the road scene, but was made to do it as a youngster! MTB is far better
In reality I am taking little breaks from work as its more fun having some roadie banter with the experts than the never ending supply chain issues and writing technical justifications for changes (its mental out there just now!)
Mum has never embraced the internet and always didnt like the UK TV commentators, so its what she sees on the telly that forms her opinions. The tour is on ITV4 over here every day so mum is delighted.