I don’t think Merckx would have been winning bunch sprints and mountain stages if he’d been racing today. There’s much more specialism now. I think he would still be competitive in the classics and probably stage races too.
Everyone thinks of Cav as a one trick pony because he only tends to win bunch sprints, but I think that’s the path he’s been channelled down after his early sprinting success. If you’ve got Cav in your team you pack it full of lead out men and tell him to sit tight until the finish. He doesn’t really get the chance to race any other way except in the national championships.
I’m fairly confident that Cav races clean. The only slight doubt is the fact that he’s hooked up with Vino’s team in the twilight of his career, but I think that’s him being pragmatic
The move to Bora-Hansgrohe comes with a rumoured buyout fee paid to the Dutch team of €3 million, while Roglič’s contract – a reported two-year deal – is set to pay him over €5 million per season.
Rog worked Pog over at the Giro dell’Emilia last weekend. I think he’s currently the only rider who at least could be considered as being in the top tier with Pog and Vingegaard. Apart from the Vuelta he has won every stage race he has started this year
I think there is a decent gap between the top two and everyone else.
To be fair, he probably sits at the top of that second tier though.
That said, do Bora have the team to support him? Presume he and Hindley will split and cover the Grand Tours. They have one or two that may be able to support, but hardly Jumbo/Quickstep esk.
Assuming Bora are in the sport for exposure, preferably positive exposure, how many more front page L’Equipe pictures will they get with Roglic than without? Presumably Roglic has gone with some guarantee of a TdF start, as that would be the reason to leave JV, they had 2 stage wins a a few days in yellow this year. Are they going to get much more from Roglic?
