Alright, but age is not a real argument. Pogacar won the Tour at 21, after all.
I'm not into analysing data, I find it a waste of time, so if that disqualifiws me from this discussing, then fair enough.
I see what I see in races, and I certainly had not seen anything that would make it impossible for him to survive Cipressa (much less in a race where it was ridden so softly that even Sagan could survive). I would not have said he would match Van der Poel on the Poggio and win in such a fashion but saying there was no chance at all seems a bit silly. Unless one assumed that the race would go as it did which only left the winning door open for very few riders.
Well I did assume it wouldn't be a sprint from a big group (as it was clear that there would be a serious tailwind), hence why I said absolutely no chance. Like i mentioned above, on a super day (meaning putting out his best watts, or even exceeding them) he couldve made it to the first bigger group, but he definitely wasn't on a super day. I was kind of expecting him to drop on Cipressa cause he was already struggling in Besseges on 6-8min hills. So no I never understood why people thought he was going to win MSR, there was no reason to believe he could. Gent-Wevelgem or something like I could understand, but MSR, no.
The age thing is a perfect argument. It's not cause there's some freaks of nature right now that everyone with top potential is going to be at top level at 21 years old (or are we going to say Sheffield is doing dissapointing now cause he got dropped on Sunday?). De Lie didn't even know what a power meter was 3 years ago, never did an altitude camp in his life and never measured his food before this year. He isn't a finished product, at all. The kid has massive potential in flemish classics and yes also a race like MSR, AGR would be max. People (in media) who said he is Boonen and Gilbert in one are dumb. He's not. He's way too heavy to do good in a LBL.
I am going to leave it at this. I was originally reacting (in a pretty normal way imo) cause someone was laughing at the kid having a bit of fun on the Kemmel, while obviously not knowing he had 3 flats that day. I don't get why it was necessary to make a negative comment about someone having fun with the crowd. And then I don't get why he was freaking out while I never quoted him till he started being annoying with the "Arnauds dad" comment. My 'without a brain' and 'clueless' comments were directed at media overhyping him on purpose based on performances in a .1 race cause they just think about the clicks their articles get.