“If he were not Poulidor's grandson he would not be as highly regarded" - Mathieu van der Poel overrated according to Jerome Pineau
CyclingFriday, 10 May 2024 at 02:11
The controversial Jerome Pineau is no stranger to hot-takes, having previously publicly accused Team Visma | Lease a Bike of mechanical doping. His latest tirade however, might be the most controversial yet.
Former team manager of B&B Hotels-KTM, Pineau has sensationally claimed that dual-discipline world champion Mathieu van der Poel is overrated due to his family ties with the legendary darling of French cycling, Raymond Poulidor. "There is something that bothers me enormously. Do you know why no one criticizes Mathieu van der Poel ? Because he is Poupou's grandson," Pineau explains to RMC.
“If he were not Poulidor's grandson, the songs he performs would not be as highly regarded as they are now," Pineau continues. “Then that would be assessed more accurately than the performance of someone like Tadej Pogacar. And if Van der Poel does not perform, will it be mentioned? No, because he is Poulidor's grandson."
Pineau's comments are sure to spark a reaction! What do you think, is van der Poel overrated because of his legendary grandfather? Let us know your thoughts!
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- Another retired pro desperate to cause a stir and add to the unending void of online ‘content’ Jonas has kids and leads the life he chooses, fair play to him. The others don’t and lead the lives they choose, fair play to them……For all the author of this article knows, they may want kids and it just hasn’t happened yet.Jezla10-06-2025
- Step up your game Freddy. The race doesn’t wait for you.b3tlla10-06-2025
- We never did know what magic Chris had in his inhalers all those years!frieders310-06-2025
- You mean Doper Chris Horner...only way he could have won that Vuelta at that age ! He's got zero credibility !frieders310-06-2025
- Ok, will do that whenever the next rainy day comes, if only to hear what they decided on saddle length ;-)Mistermaumau10-06-2025
- You have to watch the aforementioned video to get the humour. It makes fun of cyclists. Thick wallet isn't aero too according to that video. You have to empty your wallet to buy the high end Carvello.
KerisVroom10-06-2025 - Journo has never heard of "dad watts" apparentlySpicySalsa10-06-2025
- Not sure I get your humour but also not so sure that pregnant women are less aerodynamic. If you consider plane wings or the fact F. Schleck once got punished for hiding his camel back on his stomach, it could well turn out that stuffing a pillow into the front of your jersey reduces turbulence and thus makes you more aerodynamic.Mistermaumau09-06-2025
- How about a far simpler explanation - Jonas wanted to test whether his latest training program was effective?Mistermaumau09-06-2025
- If you say that, then you’re probably considering a pretty old-fashioned type of fathering but as you have no idea of Pogs’ (or Urska’s, assuming it would happen with her) conception of fathering, I don’t think you’re in a position to know what it would change for him, he might even de ide to retire completely to focus on family. In Denmark and quite a few countries now, fathers are expected to (and actually do) spend considerable time RAISING their children, that would affect EVERY riders’ training and more importantly, racing schedule and frequency. Luckily for cyclists, careers tend to end by the time riders reach optimal parenting age so most can and do put it off until after.Mistermaumau09-06-2025
Yeah, the guy who in 14 months wins Milan-San Remo (going away), Paris-Roubiax (going away), the World Road Championship (going away), the World Cyclocross championship (way, way away), Flanders (2nd time, going away), and then repeats Paris-Roubaix (2nd time, going away) is just coasting on his grandpa's name.
World Champion is overrated... the others are..... lol
C’mon, it’s just like a monument. Maybe your feeling is affected by who’s won it, or not?
Maybe he suffer dementia or something... Would not be a shock if he suffered from dementia