You can tell it’s the off season when even the bike company media people are so bored they’re trying to start tiffs online. Case in point: Canyon just posted a fun little video of Mathieu van der Poel schooling Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen in a trackstand competition. Cute, right?
Except it landed just days after a nearly identical video from MvdP’s perpetual rival, Wout van Aert. In that video, the Belgian went head to head with Red Bull teammate and fellow PON Holding’s rider (both Cervélo and Santa Cruz are owned by PON) downhill world champion Jackson Goldstone.
The timing could be a coincidence, except for Canyon’s saucy little comment: “A trackstand face-off that nobody asked for but everybody needed it.” Maybe we’re also a little bored with no racing, but that sure feels like Canyon’s calling out Cervélo and Red Bull’s little mini-viral moment. Almost like Philipsen isn’t, maybe, the real competition for MvdP here.
A level, but weird playing field
That caption, and that van der Poel is absolutely crushing Philipsen, makes it feel like a statement. (In the video, van der Poel is, as he helpfully points out in the comments just so we all know he won, “the yellow bike guy.”)
All four riders are in street shoes and cornered into a box taped on the ground, so its more a show of natural skill than a race-scenario. (I’m not actually sure what that race scenario would be, even if they were in kit and race shoes. Unless WvA and MvdP get bored on the road and start racing track sprints, they’re not trackstanding their way across Roubaix next spring) Van Aert fares well. Van der Poel looks like he could stay there all day.
Wout van Aert vs. Jackson Goldstone: Who has the skills?
On that point, several in the comments (and at least one in our office) called out van der Poel’s foot on the front wheel. When trackstanding on flat ground, using the front wheel to balance the bike could be easier than using the brakes and pedals to control the bike’s movement. Others argued that doing so requires the skill to first sit on the bike while trackstanding, then take one foot off and get it to the front wheel. So is it cheating? We’ll let you tape a square in your living room and find out for yourself.
Is this the most exciting news in the world? Well, no. It’d be a big stretch to say it is even a hint that van der Poel’s feeling confident about his semi-announced ‘cross campaign this winter. Are the brands calling out each other’s star riders? Well, the riders certainly aren’t (MvdP commented, but he’s probably contractually obligated to). Maybe Canyon figured they could get a few hits by shamelessly copying exactly what Cervélo and Red Bull did. Which isn’t as interesting as MvdP and WvA having a little off-season battle. But what else are we going to write about? Weird Italian talent shows? At the very, very least at least trackstands are more fun than unveiling weird gold statues of your star riders likeness.