Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
The point I am trying to make is this current period is unusual. In the past, there have been periods where one rider, such as Hinault, was so much better than the rest that they won pretty much won every stage race they entered (barring injury/illness).

There were other periods when there was no outstanding talent, and it was wide open (I'm thinking of 2011 after Bradley Wiggins crashed out).

The current time is not like either of these. For the first time in around 50 years we have three truly great grand tour winners all competing at the same time, and they are 23,24 and 26 years old. Talented as Pidcock is, it's going to be very hard for him (or anyone else for that matter) to beat these three.

In years to come this will be seen as a golden age for stage racing; enjoy what you're seeing now, as it could be another 50 years before we get an era this good again.
Yes and 2 of the 3 truly great grand tour winners both rocked up for the same team at the Vuelta and their only realistic rival looked like he'd been nobbled.

I'm more suspicious of what happened to Evanpoel. I'm surprised you aren't.

As for Pogacar at the TdF, I did make the point at the time that his Spring cost him a serious tilt at the TdF because he was up against a truly great grand tour winner and him being 98% wasn't enough.