• Van der Poel. 1,004 watts to win the Strade Bianche

"I've never crashed in my entire career - I learned cyclocross."

The phrase is from

Roger de Vlaeminck

, predecessor of the prodigies that today shake the cycling scene as it was not remembered.

The Belgian legend, apostate of the tyrannical specialization, rampaged in the mud in winter and then put on his boots in the classics - the only one along with Eddy Merckx and Rick Van Looy to collect the 'Five Monuments' - to the point of being remembered as 'Monsieur Paris-Roubaix.'

nero on the beaches of Ostend,

Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert

they starred in the umpteenth duel for gold in the cyclo-cross World Championship.

They have been facing each other since they were children, in all areas.

He won the first, Dutch, for the third year in a row, to equal the three crowns of the Belgian.

Shortly after, they changed the wheels to compete in the Strade Bianche.

And this last week they have prolonged their battle in the Adriatic Tyrrhenian.

And what remains.

"They take gold out of cycling. They have managed to get people to position themselves between one and the other, that they see that they are going to kill each other sportingly. They are a blessing. Welcome to road cycling and that they do not leave cyclocross", celebrates Pascual Momparler, Spanish coach of the two modalities.How are they able to reign in both specialties?

"A cyclocross racer has the same body as a wheeler. It is true that in the mud you need a lot of explosiveness and on the road you have to focus more on the bottom.

Van Aert, for example, loses three or four kilos

", bill

Felipe Orts

.

No one in Spain knows the pair of off-road geniuses better than the national champion, Top 10 already in various events on the world circuit last season, who will soon make his professional debut on the road with Burgos BH.

It tells of two brutal competitors, two chosen.

"They are helping us all. They know they are superior, but with respect. They do their job, they overtake you when they can by force, they do not expect you to let them pass for being them," he admits.

And it extols a phenomenon that goes beyond the couple.

"It's not just them or

Tom Pidcock

[the new pearl of Ineos], that wherever you put them they would go well.

There is also Tim Merlier or Gianni Vermeersch, who are not top of the line in cyclocross, but win on the road. "

Off-road training

Sagan, Bernal, Pogacar, Alaphilippe ... so many had their training on the 'off-road'.

A phenomenon on the rise.

Why?

"Cyclo-cross is no longer so Belgian or Dutch, it has become global, there is more money. It is a discipline in which you have to have a lot of technique and motor. And be very explosive. It is a perfect combination for a champion to emerge," he claims

Momparler

, which only senses benefits, although it continues to reveal the economic tyranny of the road.

"Like mountain biking, they have smaller budgets. The teams have found a fishing ground there," he reveals. The heart of cyclo-cross is in the center of Europe, where the tests go beyond the competitive.

"It is pure tradition, a party"

Describes Orts, who was hooked by the mud as a cadet - "In Spain there were five or six races" - and who, strangely, will use the peloton to improve in winter: "I think it will give me one more point". " It is a precious modality for the spectator. They jump obstacles,

they run with the bike on their shoulders

... It's fun, short, explosive.

Hooks up.

The maximum, in elite, is one hour of competition ", describes the coach, who, like Alicante's Orts, has an impact on the technical advantages provided by balance on unstable terrain, the relentless battles against the elements." Having suffered before in this type of specialties,

today is essential

.

Before, the Tour was rare to go through sections of 'pavé'.

Or the 'sterrato' in the Giro.

The cyclist has to know how to handle it. "For Orts" there is a huge advantage in the technical part.

Many road runners

they have the ability justita

, they lose their options on fans and so on.

Maybe it doesn't make you win a race, but it makes you not lose it. ”In Spain, cyclo-cross is becoming fashionable.

Also in amateur cycling, with

gravel bikes

imposing itself on the market.

But the new wave is not frowned upon by everyone in the professional world.

Many purists are against the winter frenzy, as Orts denounces.

"I still think that the cadet and youth categories are still trapped. In Spain, the directors only want the riders to be focused on the road. When the opposite is being demonstrated. Whatever the cyclist is competing, with enthusiasm, is going to be good for him. If you take that away from him and put him on for hours ... ".

Idea in which Momparler emphasizes: "All I see are advantages. For me it is a mistake for a cadet to focus only on the road." Win, wherever it may be.

Or look at Van der Poel, the insatiable, Poulidor's grandson, with the next

mtb olympic gold

between eyebrows: "I think I'll prepare myself on a mountain bike for the Tour."

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