MATHIEU VAN DER POEL WINS PARIS-ROUBAIX!!! 🙌 🌈 From The Hell of the North to cycling paradise, The world champion makes it back-to-back Monument wins! 🏆🏆 #ParisRoubaix
"Mathieu van der Poel reminds me of Eddy Merckx" - Bernard Thevenet sees similarities between two of cycling's greats
CyclingFriday, 12 April 2024 at 13:00
A legendary figure in French cycling, Bernard Thevenet raced against many of the greats during his time in the peloton, including Eddy Merckx and Raymond Poulidor, the grandfather of current world champion, Mathieu van der Poel.
In van der Poel, Thevenet actually sees more resemblance of Merckx than Poulidor. "He's not at all the image of his grandfather, he would never have dared to attack with 60 kilometres to go," the two-time Tour de France winner analyses of van der Poel's incredible victory at Paris-Roubaix last weekend, in conversation with Eurosport. "Raymond Poulidor was more of a wait-and-see attitude."
"Mathieu van der Poel reminds me of Eddy Merckx," Thevenet insists. "At Paris-Roubaix, he started to be active 150 miles from the finish, to stretch the peloton, he made his team, which was very good around him, play, and then he did not hesitate to attack from 60 kilometres from the line. Like the great Merckx."
With victory in the velodrome marking van der Poel's second monument win in just five race days this season, Thevenet is incredibly impressed with the legs the Dutchman is showing. "He is in dazzling form at the moment," the Frenchman says. "He's 29, it's an age where we know ourselves really well, we know what we're capable of. We have the sensations, we know if the legs are good. He is in the fullness of his means."
Much as like with Merckx however, the dominance of one does take something away from the brilliance of his challengers. "There is the same uncertainty as with Merckx. When he was at the start of a race, he wasn't sure of winning, but if you bet on him, you still had a good chance of winning," Thevenet concludes. "If we just look at the race like that, it might be less interesting, that's for sure. But there is also the fight behind for second place. There is always something interesting to follow in a race."
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- And your point is what exactly?vappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024