While the Tour of Italy was starting to get going and most of the candidates for the Tour he took advantage of this opportunity to train, two rather well-known young men such as Van der Poel (in the opening photo by Alessandro Di Donato) and pidcock They put aside their road bikes and began their journey on mountain bikes, which will take them to Tokyo. The Briton had tasted the fat wheels over the weekend of May 1st Going to win a stage of the Swiss Cup, Van Der Poel showed up directly in Albstadt, for the first of World Cup.
Many thought that the two would immediately tear apart the MTB "purists", forgetting some key points. First of all, MTB is like cyclocross: a lot depends on the start and if you're forced to attack from the back, as happened to Pidcock (due to a lack of World Cup points in previous years). you have to row quite a bit and expend a huge amount of energy to get back in front. Then you acquire the habit only by competing and also VDP he noticed it, of course…
First round for the "pure bikers"
Third point, perhaps the most important: it's not that the others, those who dedicate the entire season to mountain biking, are slow; on the contrary, they deserve a lot of respect. Someone like Nino schurter, for curriculum and charisma, is on par with the main champions of sport and Whoever wants Olympic gold will first have to deal with him.
In Albstadt, in the German temple of fat wheels, he proved it until very close to the finish line, putting them all in line, sifting through them with its terrible accelerations especially uphillVan Der Poel's trademark, one of the very few who in the past had shown he could hold his own, but this time he felt his legs heavy and from the middle of the race onwards he rode among the leaders, without ever giving the impression of being able to win.
The Frenchman's prank…
Until very close to the finish line? Yes, because Victor was positioned behind Schurter. Koretzky, one of the French nouvelle vague who is bringing the Marseillaise back to resonate in the major MTB events. The standard-bearer of the KMC Orbea he stayed behind the Swiss to overtake him before the last corner, knowing that in this way he would have the race in his hands and so it was.
Van Der Poel finished seventh at 1'13", and for now that's already good, especially since two days earlier, in the short track specialty (a much shorter challenge, on a smaller circuit, useful for establishing the front rows at the start), he had taught everyone a lesson. He had said it the day before: "It's been a year and a half since I've raced mountain bikes., I can't know how my legs will react." You can bet that the music will already be different in Nove Mesto.
Koretzky's victorious arrival in Albstadt (photo by Alessandro Di Donato) VDP's short track: he won 5 in 2019 (photo by Alessandro Di Donato)
Koretzky's victorious arrival in Albstadt (photo by Di Donato) VDP's short track: he won 5 in 2019 (photo by Di Donato)
It deserves a separate chapter pidcock: we had left him at the back of the group, but the rider of the Ineos Grenadiers He immediately got going so much that at the end of the first lap he was already in the Top 10. In the end he finished 5th, just 29” behind KoretzkyWhich means he'll be able to start on Sunday alongside the big names, side by side, but with a lot more energy, and he really likes that route in the Czech Republic...
