"At some point you just have to choose" - Danny Nelissen thinks "Not even Mathieu van der Poel" could ride for gold in both; road and MTB in Paris
CyclingThursday, 30 May 2024 at 10:40
Road race - yes. Mountain Bike - no. Mathieu van der Poel made his choice of races for Olympic Games in Paris clear, but that didn't stop the cycling community from countless debates whether it's a wise decision or a missed opportunity to put his name on even more pages in history books by completing the Olympic double.
Danny Nelissen is convinced that MVDP has made the right choice in a podcast by the Launch Party of RIDE magazine: "There is nothing better than becoming an Olympic champion under the Sacré-Coeur as a Dutchman whose name is also Mathieu." The former commentator is referring to Mathieu Cordang, who won gold in the three kilometers during the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Though the effort was not officially acknowledged back then.
According to Nelissen, combining the different disciplines was not an option. "At some point you just have to choose. They are two different bikes and efforts. Moreover, the mountain bike level is also too high to do both 'equally'. Not even if you are Mathieu."
Nelissen talks about a golden opportunity that could have been missed out on if the Dutch rider tried to chase too many goals and ended up failing all of them. "There are not that many opportunities to become an Olympic champion. It is something that is still missing from his record."
According to Raymond Kerckhoffs, a clear trend in Van der Poel's season planning has been visible in recent years. "From last year he actually started to make choices." The world champion has only completed seven race days thus far. Tour de France is on the menu, but it doesn't seem like the Dutch phenomenon will go far beyond the 46 race days on the road from last year. Perhaps a good thing, the podcast guests believe.
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A lot to say here.
He isn’t exactly experienced in MTB (hardly ever participated in any big event) so to expect him to win is already overreaching.
Is that reference really to another Mathieu or rather to his French roots and for French appreciation (next best thing to an unlikely Frenchman winning)?
Racing days, if you only count 7 then obviously he’s not even going to get to 46 let alone go beyond. If you count 46 aren’t you including cyclocross in which case you can’t count 7? How did he manage 46 on the road last year, coz I’d be very surprised about that but will humbly accept being wrong?
Now, the main reason (for me) he’d not go for both is the shitty organisation of cycling at the Olympics. A “great big fuss” for only 3* races (per gender) and if I’m not wrong, quite closely packed for no apparent reason.
*If you exclude track which has many races.
Considering the relative “importance” of these 3 compared to a whole range of track events resembling each other where it’s obvious you can’t space them out more, what stops them from spacing the Road, TT and MTB out more to allow (more) riders to attempt more than one race, or is this something they specifically want to discourage?
I say all this without having checked the dates.