Zonneveld about possible transformation of Van Aert: ‘Is saying goodbye to the most beautiful duel in the sport’

In the podcast In het Wiel, Thijs Zonneveld discusses Van Aert’s possible transformation. “I understand that it was going to happen one day, but I always thought that that option was only there once he had ticked off the Ronde, Roubaix and/or the World Cup. Those check marks are not there. I don’t think he will say goodbye to it completely, but you cannot lose kilos and still be so explosive that you knock Van der Poel off in the Ronde. Mathieu continues to do what he did last year: be there in the biggest races and be difficult to beat.”

Zonneveld calls this an important fact. “Last winter it went fantastic. Until the Cyclo-cross World Championships and from then on there was always someone better. If he really wants to go for the Giro and ride a classification there, he has to lose kilos. He climbs well, but in the Tour it was really different than going with the very best day after day. He has never really shown that.”

Losing pounds

“Suppose he goes from 77 to 75 kilos. He has hardly any fat and where are you going to lose it? In muscles. Then you also develop less power. This will most likely be at the expense of his time trial, sprint and explosiveness on Flemish hills. This means you are going off the path he has taken in recent years. If you want to climb better structurally, you have to give up something. Only I didn’t think he would do that before he won Flanders and Roubaix.”

He could also say that he is going all out for the classics and will then see where the ship founders in the Giro. “I just think that is a more unlikely option, because Jumbo-Visma is not quick to say: we will see where the ship ends up. It also seems more likely that Jumbo-Visma will have him do longer training blocks, more altitude training, and then he will say goodbye to the most beautiful duel in the sport.”