+5
11-06-2025 23:51
11-06-2025 23:46
+3
10-06-2025 23:12
08-06-2025 22:21
+1
22-04-2025 17:08
22-04-2025 09:37
22-04-2025 05:14
+2
21-04-2025 04:14
+0
21-04-2025 04:10
18-04-2025 05:11
+5
OCexile
as of the day he rode the TT in yellow at the TDF in ‘21, mvdp had NEVER been in a wind tunnel and NEVER ridden his TT bike a single day except for the days he had to in stage races. that day he finished 5th, one second behind wout, and hung on to his yellow against all expectations.11-06-2025 23:51
+5
OCexile
well THIS is music to my ears. i’ve always thought — and said here several times — that van der poel SHOULD be a great time trialist, and the only reason he isn’t is that he just never gives his all unless it’s an event HE genuinely cares about, and for whatever reason he’s just never liked TTs. but his natural riding position is beautifully aerodynamic, and he has the ability to empty his tank to a degree that i think is basically unmatched. i hope his passion for this event grows.11-06-2025 23:46
+3
OCexile
matthieu has been VERY animated at the dauphiné, marked man or no. he’s aggressively contested every stage so far. i’m REALLY interested to see if he puts in a genuine effort in the ITT. he apparently hates time trials, but can definitely ride a great one when he’s motivated, evidence his performances when in the yellow jersey at the tour and the maglia rosa at the giro. i’m hoping all this aggression means that he’s finally going to show up at the TDF this year to really make some noise, for the first time since his debut year there.10-06-2025 23:12
+5
OCexile
that was actually a GREAT result for van der poel, it seems to me.08-06-2025 22:21
+1
OCexile
yup, that’s sad. marriage is a tough proposition under the best circumstances. i get the FEELING that one of the reasons why jonas doesn’t race as much as people would like is that he fights to put family first? again, im not in a position to say, but we learn from the mistakes of our colleagues if we’re lucky. in the professional culture i come from, naval aviation, marriages tragically drop like flies and there’s sometimes nothing w we can do about it. but i TIRED to make the little differences where i could and ended up one of the lucky ones.22-04-2025 17:08
+1
OCexile
yeah, certainly that’s beyond anything i know about tom’s life, but, as you intuit, it’s hard to make anyone else happy when you are profoundly UNhappy.22-04-2025 09:37
+3
OCexile
love tom. smart, interesting guy. and he’s dead right about mathieu, i think. if van der poel had gotten stuck on a team like ineos or visma or soudal, it would have radically shortened his career. fortunately he was smart enough to prioritize freedom with alpecin over the giant contract he could have gotten years earlier with a bigger team. remember that alpecin was just a continental team when mvdp keep signing contract extensions with them for short money. it’s certainly all worked out over time though. maximum freedom — probably the most in the entire peloton — and huge deals now with both alpecin and canyon. tom was such a GREAT talent i wish his career had played out the same way.22-04-2025 05:14
+2
OCexile
so pog has been busy. maximum efforts at MSR, de RONDE, ROUBAIX, now AMSTEL… that’s a lot. if he’s wearing down a bit then i think remco is very likely on the opposite trajectory. LIÉGE could be interesting.21-04-2025 04:14
+0
OCexile
chapeau21-04-2025 04:10
+2
OCexile
Oumaïma Rayane seems like fairly credible evidence for the existence of at least some version of god.18-04-2025 05:11