Best classic rider

[Krzysztof_O]

It's interesting how close are Cancellara's and MVP's stats in the monuments. Both won RVV and PR 3 times and also have MSR victories (1 and 2 respectively). In terms of podiums it's 16-15 in Cancellara's favour. Obviously MVP still has time to increase the gap between the duo. I think in terms of level they are the best cobbles riders in this century (I give an edge to MVP though).

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

Cancellara is more similar to WvA than to MvdP imho:
Big engine, elite TT, king of the peloton in the TdF, the odd good result in a 1-week race that suits them, cobbled classics and MSR and good in WC / olympic races, and always racing with a big target on the back.

You can argue all you want about one winning more than the other, but there isn't really much difference between them in terms of physique, power, talent, TT, FTP, sprint,... There are differences of course but lots of interesting similarities.

I can't find any rider now and before that I can compare with MvdP. He's one of a kind, really. Same with Pog, but in terms of 'aura' he has when starting a race, I can imagine it was similar as with Merckx.

 

[the asian]

Cancellara is more similar to WvA than to MvdP imho:
Big engine, elite TT, king of the peloton in the TdF, the odd good result in a 1-week race that suits them, cobbled classics and MSR and good in WC / olympic races, and always racing with a big target on the back.

You can argue all you want about one winning more than the other, but there isn't really much difference between them in terms of physique, power, talent, TT, FTP, sprint,... There are differences of course but lots of interesting similarities.

I can't find any rider now and before that I can compare with MvdP. He's one of a kind, really. Same with Pog, but in terms of 'aura' he has when starting a race, I can imagine it was similar as with Merckx.

But he won 7 monuments compared to WWA. He was much more of a winner.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

But he won 7 monuments compared to WWA. He was much more of a winner.

He was but maybe Wout's competition is also stronger.

 

[Wyndbrook]

But he won 7 monuments compared to WWA. He was much more of a winner.

Golden Autumn for Wout, his career is not finished yet.

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

But he won 7 monuments compared to WWA. He was much more of a winner.

I specifically wrote "You can argue all you want about one winning more than the other" to try and avoid these type of replies. It's about how similar riders are, physically, in terms of ability to ride a bike, irrespective of the number of wins.

But if we're going down that road, I'm not sure if the competition was 'better' for Cancellara: he had Boonen and later on Sagan to compete with. What Cancellara did was he wasn't that experienced / tactically sophisticated earlier in his career as later on, like he was nowhere in Flanders before 2010 but after that first win he was smashing it. He won races later in his career (Flanders 2014, 2013 Roubaix) while losing e.g. Flanders 2011 (he should have won Flanders 5 times in a row after he 'unlocked' it tactically in 2010, but shattered his collarbone into pieces in 2012 while being the big favourite).

Wout could have a golden autumn, but only in Roubaix. Flanders will be very hard unless both Pog and MvdP (and Remco...! and whoever pops up in the coming years as podium candidate) aren't competing or in shape, which will probably not happen in the coming 2-3 years while that's WvA's window of opportunity. Wout should have won Flanders in 2020, and Roubaix in 2022 or 2023 and the Olympics in 2021. Strange enough he never got close to winning the worlds. Twice second, yes, but clearly beaten by the better rider. Imola was just a bit too hard and Glasgow was crazy + MvdP was phenomenal.