Tag: Mathieu van der poel

In praise of Thomas Pidcock

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, kit, News, racing


Is there any more versatile cyclist in the world at the moment then Tom Pidcock?

From the Flemish Berg’s to Valkenberg, and with cyclo cross in between, Tom is continuing his dominance of the mountain bike scene with two wins in the opening World Cup.

Fortunately his last lap tail whips in this race ended wheel side down (unlike a cyclocross faux par earlier in the year). The short course event, which I’d never seen before, blew me away as an event. Twenty minutes of watts and mud which made the old city centre criterium events look pedestrian in comparison.

He also won the longer form cross country event.

Such is the impact of mountain biking on me at the moment, my time trial bike is sold and gone, and I’m in the market for a hard tail.

Now that might say a little bit about me, as much as it says about Leeds is finest.

But in Pidcock there is a cyclist who does it all and can pretty much make anything on two wheels sing. In fact, my daughter asked on the school run this morning, could Tom Pidcock beat me to school on a scooter? The answer is probably yes. Although I suspect his wouldn’t be pink and covered in LoL doll stickers.

Pidcock burst on the scene through the UK Trinity/Wiggins setup and has been always focused on multi-discipline.

You could argue that with mountain bike in his repertoire. He is more diverse than Wout Van Aert or Mathieu Van der Poel.

I love Tom Pidcock because he’s not afraid to get it sideways. He’s not afraid to jump. He’s not afraid to fall. Even in yesterday’s race in the Czech Republic. He was down after a crash, allowing fellow cyclo crosser Joshua Dubau of France to get ahead.

But Pidcock hunted him down, chased him and got the win. It was brilliant.

And whilst the Giro and the upcoming four days of Dunkirk will dominate my TV viewing this week. There is a mention for the fact that GCN are now showing the UCI mountain bike series. It’s different. It’s fresh, and for a 30 year veteran roadie like to think I want to have a crack at this, then something must be being done right.

So good luck, TP. Enjoy your break. And let’s hope that the summer road season yields more results, such as your Alp D’Huez win of 2022.

For me, soon, there might be even fatter tires on a bike that I will be chugging around the fens on so keep an eye out for that.

2023 Tour of Flanders review

by James Warrener, posted in beer, Blog, News, racing

The Tour of Flanders 2023 was a ‘Pog’ fest. There was nothing that could stop it. And you knew that it was coming. But it made the race probably now a little bit less of a standout for me.

I wanted a good race, but I also wanted a different winner than the man who is dominating racing in this season.

That’s not to say Tadej Pogacar didn’t deserve it. That’s not to say he wasn’t the best rider. It’s just to say I would have chosen a different outcome.

Don’t get me wrong. come July I’ll probably be rooting for Pogacar on the roads of France.

But April is the domain of the Vans… Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel.

And if they don’t win, the biggest classic of the mall you wonder what the future holds.

The race itself was packed with the usual amount of drama. Although we’ll probably be remembered for a bunny hop that went wrong causing most of the peloton to crash.

The big climbs themselves saw what bombs dropped by the big three. Although Van Aert and Thomas Pidcock faded a little bit sooner than anticipated.


When Pogacar attacked on the Oude Kwaremont on the penultimate lap he looked pretty dominant but that was brought back by a combination of riders.

On the last ascent he was gone, and he was gone for good.

You look at his Strava times on the last two climbs, and even though they’re less than two miles in length, he put nearly 10 minutes into my best efforts.

Now I’m not the best rider in the world. and he is but that is a massive gap. It won’t be long before questions start being asked about his dominance.

 In fact, you only have to look at social media to see they already are.

But for now, let’s enjoy what was a brilliant occasion with a frothy beer and a bag of chips and look forward to the second instalment of Holy Week when Paris-Roubaix hits the road this weekend.


Some thoughts on 2023 to date

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

Its been a pretty exciting start to 2023 from a pro cycling perspective.

The World Cyclo Cross Championships were, as previously posted, some of the best races I have seen. And I started watching the sport during the 1987 Tour de France.

We had the Australian races, which for once I had more than a passing interest in tuning in for, before this block of Spanish racing to get us properly up and running.

(We also had Etoile de Besseges in France and the Tour of the Algarve starts this week in Portugal)

It’s been a fabulous period to get in some TV watching. I have seen beaches, sunshine (snow in Mallorca ironically!) and cycling… lots of cycling.

But despite my usual high level of enthusiasm I have had my eye drawn to an increasing number of posts on Twitter reporting that there is building evidence the sport has returned to its dark, dope fuelled days.

The incredible start to the season by both Intermarche and EF Pro Cycling has raised eyebrows on Elon’s social media platform.

There are comments about Miguel Angel Lopez, Nairo Quintana and how their world tour careers have ended.

Yesterday there was a lot of content from people, some of whom have been represented publicly as credible experts in the past, saying that the gravel based win of Tadej Pogacar has made mugs of any of us still watching thinking we were seeing a sport.

Does this mean that possible pandemic related cuts to doping tests and research mean that the cheats are further ahead of the authorities than they were 5 years ago?

Has my algorithm on the app started to push more cynical cycling posts my way?

I don’t know the answer to either of those questions, but it is making me consume pro cycling in a more aware if not downright disbelieving way again.

Sad.

World CX champs show sport at its best

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

Who wouldn’t be able to find an extra 1% in front of a passionate crowd of 40,000 plus spectators?

Especially at home in the Netherlands.

RnkRiderTeamCompetition
points		PntTime
1 VAN EMPEL FemNetherlands2750:54:42
2 PIETERSE PuckNetherlands2250:39
3 BRAND LucindaNetherlands1901:11
4 PERSICO SilviaItaly1701:45
5 ALVARADO Ceylin del CarmenNetherlands1501:46
6 WORST AnnemarieNetherlands1352:14
7 VAN DER HEIJDEN IngeNetherlands1202:36
8 BETSEMA DeniseNetherlands1052:41
9 ROCHETTE MaghalieCanada902:55
10 CLAUZEL HélèneFrance803:02

Fem Van Empel benefitted from the decision of Shirin Van Anrooij to stick with the U23s and romped home to get the home nation up and running in the Elite category.

We were then treated to one of the best races I have ever seen in any form of cycling.

I have used this website in the past to highlight the 1994 Paris-Roubaix as the best race I have seen. This was close to surpassing it.

The deadly duo of Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert rode nonchalantly clear of the rest of the men’s elite field very early on.

At one point their lead over every other rider battling behind them was close to one minute. The dominance was so complete.

They did try and work each other over and onto the front in the last lap or two which saw the gap to bronze medal Eli Iserbyt close. But the top two were constantly looking back and you know full well an acceleration could come at any moment to re-establish the advantage.

Attacks were traded in a blow by blow fashion and having the planks on an uphill section certainly made a difference on a number of laps.

VdP was getting over them and away quicker than his Belgian rival and it might well have been the gapping of Wout lap after lap at this point of the course that took the edge of his final sprint.

What I do know is that this race will live long in the memory and you should most definitely watch it back (even if you saw it live!)

Bike racing doesn’t get much better than this… unless its the 1994 spring classics and its snowing outside the Arenberg forest of course.

RnkRiderTeamCompetition
points		PntTime
1 VAN DER POEL MathieuNetherlands2751:07:20
2 VAN AERT WoutBelgium225,,
3 ISERBYT EliBelgium1900:12
4 VAN DER HAAR LarsNetherlands1700:13
5 VANTHOURENHOUT MichaelBelgium1500:46
6 KUYPERS GerbenBelgium1350:54
7 VANDEPUTTE NielsBelgium1200:57
8 SWEECK LaurensBelgium1050:59
9 MASON CameronGreat Britain901:08
10 VENTURINI ClémentFrance801:30

Race results from Procyclingstats.com

Diegem – Classic racing under the lights…

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

The best racing of the year came with only hours to spare.

Floodlight cyclo-cross seems to be a thing nowadays, more so than ever.

Last night was festive fun at the highest level as the big three traded the lead before the final corner decided the outcome.

No spoilers from me.

But during the race Mathieu Van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock traded the lead through heavy mud and tough single track.

If you’ve not watched it, please get on GCN+ and enjoy…

Best race of the year?

100%

Not right for Mathieu but it looks spectacular

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

Mathieu Van der Poel finished well down in the weekends cyclo-cross race in Val di Sole.

The so-called “snow cross” delivered a course packed with rock hard white stuff.

Van der Poel took a view that there was a bigger picture to his season and visibly eased off, just ensuring he got round in one piece, as opposed to racing at the pointy end.

After his Antwerp crash last weekend that looked a wise strategy. Eli Iserbyt crashing hard mid race and looking in real distress after being wrapped in a spectators coat before being carried away from the course.

There were positives though. Lots of super competitive racing and some amazing optics which shows the course in its full glory.

I think that the organisers will be looking for softer, more powdery snow in 2023 to avoid getting a reputation of having a course that’s a rider breaker.

Here is the on bike course recon ride that shows you just how slippy it was.

Remco and Annemiek save the world(s)

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

After a bit of moaning from me in the build up to the Australian hosted world championships, I have to say that they delivered more than anticipated.

A bad looking fall in the midweek relay time trial left Annemiek Van Vleuten unlikely to even start the Womens race on Saturday. But, she managed to patch up her fractured elbow and take her place at kilometer zero.

There were plenty of times, even in the closing stages, where she looked likely to get dropped. She was also placed in the second or third group on the road more than once. It looked like a case of hanging on to get the best finish possible.

But as groups merged in the final kilometer AVV came to life.

She darted down the right hand side of the road with the perfectly timed attack.

After lots of riders trying to get away without success, this was one increase in pace and it stuck.

She was the most deserving of champions of the world and the finish will go down in history. It would have been epic, even without broken bones.

RnkRiderTeamUCIPntTime
1 VAN VLEUTEN AnnemiekNetherlands6003504:24:25
2 KOPECKY LotteBelgium4752600:01
3 PERSICO SilviaItaly400190,,
4 LIPPERT LianeGermany325150,,
5 LUDWIG Cecilie UttrupDenmark275130,,
6 SIERRA ArlenisCuba225110,,
7 LABOUS JulietteFrance175100,,
8 NIEWIADOMA KatarzynaPoland15090,,
9 CHABBEY EliseSwitzerland12580,,
10 LONGO BORGHINI ElisaItaly10070,,
from procyclingstats.com

Once Mathieu van der Poel had dropped out of the men’s race following a night of disruption at his hotel, culminating in a visit to the police station, all eyes were on Belgium for the win.

After the drama of Leuven last year, everyone wanted to see how the dynamic between Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel would play out.

Most pundits agreed that Remco would be the one to attack early and Wout would save himself for any sprint finish.

That’s exactly how it played out with the recent Vuelta winner slipping into a late group and then dropping its other members one by one.

It was as dominant a worlds performance as I can remember.

He soloed home with very little stress to cement himself as the rider of the late season and take the rainbow jersey.

RnkRiderTeamUCIPntTime
1 EVENEPOEL RemcoBelgium6003506:16:08
2 LAPORTE ChristopheFrance4752602:21
3 MATTHEWS MichaelAustralia400190,,
4 VAN AERT WoutBelgium325150,,
5 TRENTIN MatteoItaly275130,,
6 KRISTOFF AlexanderNorway225110,,
7 SAGAN PeterSlovakia175100,,
8 BETTIOL AlbertoItaly15090,,
9 HAYTER EthanGreat Britain12580,,
10 SKJELMOSE MattiasDenmark10070,,
from procyclingstats.com

A couple of notable rides came from Peter Sagan who showed his best form in a couple of years to come home seventh and our own Ethan Hayter who made the top 10.

Now we move on to the end of season Italian classics races and cyclocross… gone quickly hasn’t it?

Belated Giro review…

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

My holiday had an inconvenient side effect of taking me away from wifi and 4g for the final weekend of the 2022 Giro D’Italia.

I had left for the solitude of a boat on the Norfolk broads with Richard Carapaz of Ineos looking the likely winner in Verona.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

The race had started back on 6th May in Hungary which put on its best sights and weather for the arrival of the race. A year or so late due to Covid, of course.

Mathieu van der Poel did his thing avoiding a tumbling Caleb Ewan to get the first pink jersey before Simon Yates shocked the peloton in the next days time trial.

The Brits were 2 from 3 in the Hungarian stages as Mark Cavendish kept the “will he won’t he?” Tour de France narrative going by outsprinting his rivals in Balantonfured. The debate is still raging as that was the high point for Cav with no other stages wins. He did make the finish though and has taken that form into the most recent Belgian semi classics.

Stage 4 had the first mountain finish of the race and Leonard Kamna showed his class by taking the win on Mount Etna. Juan Pedro Lopez of Trek took the leaders pink jersey at this point and despite being a relative newcomer to the top table of world cycling was able to hang on for 9 days.

As we journeyed up the West coast for a few days Arnaud Demare put Cavendish, Ewan et al. in their place with back to back wins. This was enough to win the points jersey at the end of the race.

A couple of midi montagne stages followed with typically swashbuckling breakaway wins from Koen Bouwman of Jumbo (with a massive assist from Tom Dumoulin) and Thomas De Gendt.

De Gendt won in the way only he can, dangling off the front in a group that was pretty dysfunctional but just about had enough time to win it.

A sign of things to come was shown on stage 9 with Australian Jai Hindley winning the showpiece finish on Blockhaus. He would stay within a few seconds of the race lead until the final weekend.

Jesi is a place I know so it was great to see more barriers broken down by Biniam Girmay. Let’s savour his win for now and hope the eye injury he got post stage won’t affect him long term.

After no stage wins in 10 so far, the home nation of Italy got a pair on consecutive days with Alberto Dainese winning a sprint before Stefano Oldani showed his Etna breakaway was no fluke with a brilliant win in the port city of Genoa.

Demare and Yates won more stages as Lopez finally conceded the leaders jersey to Carapaz.

The race settled into the mountainous final week with more breaks winning stages. Santi Buitrago was the standout with a thrilling counter attack after crashing on a downhill.

Perennial trier Dries DeBondt showed his ‘new De Gendt‘ credentials as we headed into the key final stages.

All eyes were on the Marmolada stage where Allesandro Covi crossed the line first to save the race from a UAE Team Emirates perspective. The drama was behind though with team mate Kamna dropping back from the winning break to set a fierce pace for Hindley.

It was too much for the pink jersey and Carapaz was dropped for good seeing a late in the race new leader in the Aussie.

The final time trial was a lap of honour for Hindley who put the hurt of losing on the last day 2 years ago behind him. It was a great win and well deserved.

RnkPrev▼▲RiderTeamUCIPntTime BonusTime
11– HINDLEY JaiBORA – hansgrohe85040021″86:31:14
22– CARAPAZ RichardINEOS Grenadiers68029014″1:18
33– LANDA MikelBahrain – Victorious5752403:24
44– NIBALI VincenzoAstana Qazaqstan Team4602209:02
55– BILBAO PelloBahrain – Victorious3802004″9:14
66– HIRT JanIntermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux32019015″9:28
77– BUCHMANN EmanuelBORA – hansgrohe26018013:19
88– POZZOVIVO DomenicoIntermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux22017017:29
910▲1 CARTHY HughEF Education-EasyPost18016017:54
109▼1 LÓPEZ Juan PedroTrek – Segafredo1401506″18:40
from Procyclingstats.com

Ineos show their classic mettle in Hell

by James Warrener, posted in beer, Blog, News, racing

After a midweek of Magnus Sheffield winning and team dominance, along with an Amstel Gold success, Ineos Grenadiers had showed they were truly on the road to being a classics squad by taking the big one.

RnkRiderTeamUCIPntTime
1 VAN BAARLE DylanINEOS Grenadiers5002755:37:00
2 VAN AERT WoutJumbo-Visma4002001:47
3 KÜNG StefanGroupama – FDJ325150,,
4 DEVRIENDT TomIntermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux275120,,
5 MOHORIČ MatejBahrain – Victorious225100,,
6 PETIT AdrienIntermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux175902:27
7 STUYVEN JasperTrek – Segafredo15080,,
8 PICHON LaurentTeam Arkéa Samsic12570,,
9 VAN DER POEL MathieuAlpecin-Fenix100602:34
10 LAMPAERT YvesQuick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team85502:59
From procyclingstats

Dylan Van Baarle proved that three attacks is too many but two just enough when he made his way across to the 2nd threatening break of the day and dropped them to head into Roubaix with a hefty winning margin.

The truth is that this was a win set up nearer the start than the finish of the race. In a slight crosswind his team put all 7 riders into a move that took until the 2nd sector of cobbles to pull back. Pre-race favourites Mathieu Van de Poel and Wout Van Aert had to use more riders than they would have hoped in getting it back.

This left the Grenadiers with plenty of riders on the front foot and at the head of the race. In their old more defensive style of riding, the travails of Fillipo Ganna would have been enough to derail their plan, but whilst it was bad news for the Italian, the mechanicals that had him dropped and having to chase alone didn’t affect the strategy. They had riders in abundance.

There were, however, riders clear at the key point in Arenberg forest and Milan San-Remo winner Matej Mohoric was proving to be no one trick pony in forcing the pace at the front. But with Ben Turner pushing on behind in the group of favourites and keeping things in check, Ineos didn’t panic.

Mohoric came back to them when hW Hs a puncture and Van Baarle made his first move driving the final selection away. This was despite the spirited Tom Devrient remaining clear from the initial breakaway.

The second Van Baarle attack was clinical and final with only Van Aert trying to respond, the rest were on their knees at this point.

But despite having Devrient, Stefan Kung and Mohoric back after his mechanical, they couldn’t get close to the Dutchman whose lead grew all the way through the final sectors and on into Roubaix.

Seeing Sir Dave Brailsford and Van Baarle embrace in the famous velodrome at the end of the race showed that despite having won Amstel and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (with Wout Poels) this was the one they wanted. And it was worth the 12 year wait to get it.

The fact that Quickstep continued their nightmare spring might have added a bit of gloss to the win and the feelings of joy perhaps? who knows?

But with the Ardennes coming up it will be interesting to see if that drought can end for the Belgian super team.

On its own, but I am fine with Amstel as is

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

I know this is the least prompt post of the season… It’s a busy time ok? !

However, it would be 100% remiss of me not to go back over the great spectacle that the 2022 Amstel Gold Race was.

2021 was exciting with a hairs breadth separating Wout Van Aert and Tom Pidcock on the open flat space at the top of the Cauberg.

2020 had seen that counter attack from Mathieu Van der Poel. The one where he closed an impossible looking gap in super quick time before joining in and winning the sprint finish.

It might not have the history and cultural attachment of Flanders and Roubaix, but this race has had seen better finishes recently. You might need to whisper that in the low Countries though.

This year we had the same end game. A 2-up sprint after the splintering of a breakaway group. Benoit Cosnefroy and Michal Kwiatowski were the two go ahead riders and they were suitably aware enough of the riders behind them coming back (having probably watched Flanders re-runs)

GCN race highlights

The French rider led out within the last 200 metres and looked to have won. He was even called as such with the tv cameras focusing on the celebrations of him and his team-mates from AG2R/Citroen.

But when the side on shot came on the screen, it was clear that, as with last year, there had been a terrible error calling the winner so soon.

Veteran Ineos rider Kwiatowski had just nudged his wheel over the line first and the tv cut to the Pole and away from the desolate looking Cosnefroy.

You can argue whether its a good look for cycling not to be able to call a winner without changing their minds, but it was another chapter for the Amstel and another indicator that this is a race on the up.