Star opponents are scouting talented Paul Magnier's Strava numbers ahead of the classics: "Van der Poel had seen that and was apparently impressed"
Cycling
So far in his young career, Paul Magnier mainly profiled himself as a powerful sprinter, but with his recent showing at a hilly Figueira Champions Classic (1.Pro), where he hung on to a select group of 20 riders, the Soudal - Quick-Step rider showed that he's not to be taken lightly with view to upcoming classics.
After all, the big names have already noticed Magnier's immense talent, he tells Het Nieuwsblad: "Tim Merlier says that as a rider I resemble Wout van Aert, but I prefer the class of Van der Poel. I have never spoken to Van der Poel, but he has already sent a message to Tim about the wattages I was pedaling."
Van der Poel was impressed, but also already mapped out a tactic... "Someone on Twitter had checked out my wattages on Strava, Van der Poel had seen that and he was apparently impressed. He let Tim know that he would drop me before it came to a sprint between the two of us, haha."
It's not so common that a professional rider is openly sharing their power numbers on Strava. So in that sense, Magnier is an exception. Keeping your wattages a secret can be a tactical (dis-)advanatage, but Magnier doesn't make a big deal of that. After all, his inspiration - Mathieu van der Poel - didn't hide either. And it certainly didn't hurt him on the results side. "When I started racing, I loved being able to see Mathieu van der Poel's wattages."
Some teams are very strict in this regard, but with the Wolfpack, he found a team that's open to interactions with fans. "I know that there are many teams that forbid their riders, while fans and amateur cyclists enjoy seeing what professionals can do. At Soudal - Quick-Step, they certainly don't make a problem of it."
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- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025