Mathieu van der Poel's most important classics domestique may join Red Bull - BORA as a leader
CyclingMonday, 12 May 2025 at 22:57
Alpecin-Deceuninck seems to be getting hit quite hard this winter, as it seems likely that at this point, three members of it's classics block will be signing with rival teams. Most important perhaps are the strong rumours that Gianni Vermeersch, Mathieu van der Poel's right-hand man in the classics, may be moving to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.
Edward Planckaert will likely be moving to Soudal - Quick-Step whilst Timo Kielich is a clear target of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. A third team now seems to be chopping into the Belgian team's classics specialist as Gianni Vermeersch is close to signing a deal with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
This transfer would be quite significant as for the past few years, besides being a frequent presence during the cyclocross season where both came from originally, Vermeersch has turned into one of the strongest riders in the peloton when it comes to the cobbled classics and has been adamant in the victories of van der Poel throughout several monuments.
Veermersch has on his own, despite not being a leader in the team, finished in the Top10 at both Tour of Flanders (2021) and Paris-Roubaix (2024), won races such as the Antwerp Port Epic and Dwars door het Hageland and even won the Gravel World Championships back in 2022. However he has always been under the radar, as his most important mission was to support van der Poel and also Jasper Philipsen during the cobbled classics.
The reigning Belgian Gravel Champion has also finished 7th at Strade Bianche this year when given the freedom, and also rode to 2nd at the GP de Denain. Next season he may be linking up with the likes of Maxim van Gils, Oier Lazkano, Jan Tratnik, the van Dijke twins and many more during the spring classics.
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- Vingo's case, more than a desire to be with his family, it seems to be fear of racing and crashing. Yes, cycling is a very dangerous sport; you have to have a lot of confidence, otherwise, it won't be long before the rider gives up. The retirement out of fear starts avoiding running, considering EVERYTHING extremely dangerous, even climbing Montmartre. If Vingo doesn't win again the Tour this year, probably his retirement is near.
maria2024202425-05-2025 - Despicable and disrespectful comments from WVA. How about we blame you too for your own numerous crashes? This is not the way to go for GC standings. It was the organization's fault to place such a bottleneck in a slippery surface for 200 riders.elosanjos25-05-2025
- I am with Vingo on this one. Life isn't just about cycling. Though as a cycling fan, I hope to see him go head to head with Pogi. But cycling is a dangerous sport and if he wants to lessen his exposure to danger, I can totally empathize with him.
KerisVroom25-05-2025 - Vingo is criticized because he uses every excuse possible to avoid racing (not because of training in altitude camp). Perhaps because he doesn't really like cycling, for him is just a job. If he can avoid racing, he does.maria2024202425-05-2025
- No... it's not an important climb stage: after the last climb there is about 20 km almost flat. Enough to reunite the main GC riders. The real first hard climb stage is the next (stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta - San Valentino)maria2024202425-05-2025
- Is he one of those people attending the race to boo, throw beer or spit at MvDP?KerisVroom25-05-2025
- (Just notice how long this is. Sorry.) I wonder why people rank van der Poel above Pogacar as a classics rider, like Museeuw does. Using Procyclingstats for what follows: Pogacar has 22 classics wins, of which 9 are monuments and 19 are at world tour level, and then there’s also one national and one world championship. His first classics win was 2021. Van der Poel has 26 classics wins, of which 8 are monuments and 17 are at world tour level, and there are 2 national and one world championship. His first classics win was in 2014. If we compare only the seasons from 2021 to now (meaning, from Pogacar’s first season with a classics won forward), van der Poel has 16 classics wins, of which 7 are monuments and 12 are at world tour level, and there’s a world championship. If we compare the seasons since Pogacar turned pro in 2019, then they are even at 22 classics wins, back to the 9 vs. 8 comparison of monuments, more of Pogacar’s are at world tour level (19 vs 16 of their 22), and they are even with 1 national and 1 world championship each. So it is damn close, but when I look at the stats alone, Pogacar comes out as the better classics rider in a head to head comparison, except at San Remo and Roubaix (his 4th place in a 2 man sprint at his first Flanders race has been more than rectified since). And yes, Pogacar will basically always lose the sprint at the end of a race to van der Poel, which requires him to use different tactics. So I get it, van der Poel is amazing, I absolutely love watching him race, I still think his Amstel win is one of the more superhuman feats I’ve seen in biking, and I got into CX and mountain biking because of him. But Pogacar, on the road, has a better head-to-head record. Sure, he also wins grand tours, but does that make him a worse classics rider? It shouldn’t. His record shows how amazing he is.RidesHills25-05-2025
- Some of those streets are the width of a car, this is stupid, I hope they don't take out the Tour winner.awp25-05-2025
- They have a serious problem getting Del Toro out of the pink jersey. He can win it!
DareDevil25-05-2025 - They should have waited in my view. Poor sportsmanship.Mart25-05-2025