+0
15:58
+4
04-10-2026 01:32
03-10-2026 13:20
+5
16-09-2026 20:15
+3
06-09-2026 13:16
+7
21-08-2026 14:29
21-08-2026 14:16
+2
19-08-2026 19:32
+10
18-08-2026 18:24
+17
18-08-2026 14:13
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+0
MidnightRider
I think he's close. For one thing - and this won't be a well-received take - I won't be surprised if Pog skips RVV this year. He has bigger goals, most of which are later in the season. The big thing in the spring is PR, and there is case for him come into that race fresh and maybe with a couple of kg of additional weight. But even if Pog does do RVV, Wout can win. As he is sometimes prone, he blew himself up too early last year trying to keep up with Pog on Oude de Kwaremont. Had he been just a bit more patient he might well have ended up chasing with either Remco or MVDP. Still not easy to catch Pog, and no guarantee he'd beat the other two even if they did. But the point remains: it's there if things go just right.15:58
+4
MidnightRider
Piganzoli's win today, with a strong assist from Jorgensen, is just more weight against your claim. They still have one of the two best GC riders in the world, one of the 2 best classics riders, and one of the top sprinters...plus elite domestiques and a development squad as deep as any. Take away Tadej Pogacar and Visma is still as strong as any team in the world.04-10-2026 01:32
+4
MidnightRider
They won KBK, Roubaix, and Giro among others, plus 7 stages at La Vuelta. Had a bad TDF by their standards, but mostly due to crashes. Obviously other teams have increased their budgets so that Visma can't keep everyone they would like. But calling them "terrible" is ludicrous.03-10-2026 13:20
+5
MidnightRider
Yes, but at the same time we are seeing the ongoing rebirth of a team that was itself dismantled. I am a TJV/TVL guy to the core, but I nonetheless appreciate what a Belgian classics team means to the sport. Alpecin has risen as Soudal has declined, but MVDP and Philipsen won't be on top forever. Seeing Soudal become the Wolfpack again is good for cycling, in my view.16-09-2026 20:15
+3
MidnightRider
Not sure what he says adds up. No one on Astana is keeping up with Pog, MVDP, Wout, Remco, etc., so we are not missing any big showdown because they are chasing UCI points. One could just as easily argue that we are getting a better product across more of the calendar by providing incentives for smaller teams to compete at non-marquee races.06-09-2026 13:16
+7
MidnightRider
The departures are eye-opening, especially when coupled with the ongoing sponsor crisis. But if you look at the biggest cases individually, it's harder to see a pattern: - Yates didn't switch teams, he quit cycling. - Niermann left for a bigger role than he had at Visma - Benoot wanted to stay, but left for more money - Kooij left because Visma is not a true sprint team, and TDF was unlikely Meanwhile Wout, Sepp, and others continue on with no hint of controversy or tension. I think the sponsor thing is real, but that aside I think most of what we are seeing is the normal, even inevitable turnover of a team that has enjoyed huge success over a period of years. Whether they can survive this transition and stay at/near the top is a fair question, but I'm not sure I see anything "rotten."21-08-2026 14:29
+3
MidnightRider
Injuries aside, he just had the best year of his career and has negotiated a schedule that suits him better personally. Visma does seem to be going through a transition, but too many top professionals - Wout, Sepp, Laporte, Campy, etc. - are happy at Visma to say something is "rotten."21-08-2026 14:16
+2
MidnightRider
Interesting take. Seems like MVDP's cyclocross stardom would have been an added bonus for the sponsors of a Belgian cycling team. And Lefevere had worked with Boonen, Cavendish, and even Remco, but maybe MVDP was just too independent for him. Big mistake.19-08-2026 19:32
+10
MidnightRider
I only came on as a fan in 2019, by which time both of them had committed to other teams. So I never did get the story of how the most important classics team in modern cycling missed out on the two best classics riders of their generation. MVDP would have been a perfect fit in terms of personality and programming, but Wout is of course Belgian. It has worked out spectacularly well for both of them with other teams, but it was an epic miss by Lefevere and Soudal.18-08-2026 18:24
+17
MidnightRider
While I will always appreciate Lefevere's commitment to a Belgian classics squad, something the sport needs, he is nonetheless a pompous and boorish ass. No other leading figure in cycling is so publicly hostile to his own riders or so determined to keep himself in the spotlight through petty beefs. He blew his own team up to serve Remco and now spends his days as a grumpy old man.18-08-2026 14:13