"I think it would be better if he rode less" - Sep Vanmarcke enjoys the spectacle of Mathieu van der Poel's limited racing calendar
Cycling
One of the biggest stars in modern cycling, Mathieu van der Poel draws big crowds and much attention whenever he takes to the startline of a bike race. Given his ambitions in various different disciplines of the sport though, his road racing calendar isn't quite as packed as some of his rivals.
"Van der Poel has planned 41 racing days this year," begins Belgian ex-pro turned Israel - Premier Tech sports director Sep Vanmarcke on the Sporza Daily podcast, noting the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader's somewhat limited race programme for the coming road season. "Of those 41, he will compete for the win 30 times. Would you rather have him ride 80 racing days with 5 extra chances for a win?"
According to Vanmarcke, part of the spectacle and excitement fans have to see Van der Poel race would be lessened if he did, for example, double his number of race days in a calendar year. "I think it would be better if he rode less, because he would always be very motivated at the start and provide a spectacle," explains the 36-year-old former Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner. "Just look at Jonas Vingegaard. He also rides a minimal number of races and focuses on the biggest possible: the Tour de France."
When his 2025 calendar was revealed earlier this year, Van der Poel explained the thought process behind just a six-race programme. "I will start in Tirreno-Adriatico because this is the best preparation for Milano-Sanremo. And after that? The same as in previous years. I will not go to the World Championships. I will ride the Tour again. There are a few opportunities for me in the first week,” explained Van der Poel at his press conference. "Do I want to be the first to win the Tour of Flanders four times? It's like the Cyclocross World Championships: I'm more concerned with the race than with the record. Gent-Wevelgem will definitely not be this year. Dwars door Vlaanderen will also be decided later. I'd rather win the Tour four times than Gent-Wevelgem for the first time.”
Mathieu van der Poel's confirmed road racing calendar for 2025
Tirreno-Adriatico (March 10-16)
Milano-Sanremo (March 22)
E3 Saxo Classic (March 28)
Tour of Flanders (April 6)
Paris-Roubaix (April 13)
Tour de France (July 5-27)
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- Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025
- Just like Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Ronde van Vlaanderen was/is NOT on MAX. Get your facts straight.Ben04-04-2025
- You might bounce more for the same power, but not the same speed. Sending 20 kgs over a jump at 20 kph will fly just as far as 10 kgs at the same speed. Again, Galileo demonstrated this.acem8204-04-2025
- So, you're saying that doing a bunch of small hops on a bike is easier if you're heavier? Why do people buy lighter bikes, then? Why do they generally feel better and faster? An appeal to "rhythm" is not helpful either, as the right "rhythm" might be on the lighter or heavier side of things, and as it varies, it's likely a wash either way. Then we are left with the physics truth that it takes less power to lift lighter things than heavier things.acem8204-04-2025
- No, weight doesn't affect the ability to go into the wind at all. It's all CdA vs power at that point. For example, it's "obvious" that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter one. But, absent wind resistance, it's not true (Galileo demonstrated this). An appeal to "obviousness" doesn't matter when the physics is clear. And yes, you have to be able to hold everything else constant, or you can't determine anything! So, imagine a 300 watt rider at 80 kgs with a CdA of 2.0, then imagine that same rider at 70 kgs with a CdA of 2.0. (Assume ideal tire pressure for both, same bike.) Which one can ride over a bumpy road fastest? The lighter one, as he doesn't have to lift as much. That's also why when they test bikes on 5 star cobbled sectors, the MTB goes faster than even a cobble-build road bike. Even though rolling resistance is higher on a flat road, and the CdA is junk, it smooths out the cobbles, allowing the person to not lift as much as they otherwise would.acem8204-04-2025
- I disagree. If you have lower weight, you will bounce more at the same speed, meaning that you will spend more time in the air and shorter time on the ground, as a consequence, when you are on the ground you have to produce more force for the same speedvappaxbipmv04-04-2025
- That’s not quite true, even steep climbs and sudden gradient changes can be considered as remaining tangential to the wheel whereas the occasional dip between cobbles a wheel drops into cannot, as such riding over cobbles can become like a permanent surmounting of small obstacles that hit back into your wheel slowing you drastically if you don’t have the right rhythm to “fly” on the mounds, here again the greater the momentum the less these obstacles reduce your speed. But, it is but one factor, you cannot decide on this alone. Like with natural surface ripple formation on desert tracks used by vehicles, there is an optimal speed range to efficiently pass over such surfaces, too fast or slow and your car gets shaken to pieces from the “harmonics” in the vibrations caused. Pretty sure the same applies to riding on cobbles.Mistermaumau04-04-2025