A few weeks ago there was big discussion on age groups in football teams. An interesting fact was that people can differ 3-4 years in development. Thats why you get so many riders winning Avenir and then doing nothing as a pro. So peaking early can mean a lot or nothing at the same time.
Another fact: Wuyts mentionned in his column today that people allready said in 2023 that he was way overrated.
On the other side: i cant imagine that Visma didnt do some tests before going to that transfer hassle. So there must be something there.
My point was that you said his 1st year at the pros was nothing exceptional, which is complete BS. Top 10 in 3 major WT stage races and also in the Vuelta. Whether he is overrated or an early bloomer has little to do with that.
As for him being overrated, that depends on how you (or people) rated him to begin with. He was hyped by his former junior manager as "better than Evenepoel" which is something i have always said was complete BS. His last decent TT has been 4 years ago and he has zero punch. On top of that, his style is more akin to that of Mollema than anything else, hardly aerodynamic which basically means little chance of doing Evenepoel/Pogacar style long solo attacks. Even if he is the best in a race, he simply lacks the tools to finish it off. On the other hand, saying his first GT result will be the best he will ever do, when he was only 20, can hardly be taken seriously. If that turns out to be true, then a prediction like that is more based on luck than on insight.
The power of being belgian. Cian was probably living and riding like a pro since he was a teen and now he can't improve anymore. Such a cliché nowadays but people still talk about him because he is belgian. In fact, this thread has more pages than Ayuso's thread or Pidcock's thread.
Because Pidcock was not overrated and overhyped? Dude is older than Evenepoel and only a year younger than Pogacar. He was going to win the TDF (this was not some fan's wetdream but actual prognosis by him and his coach). What has he shown so far?
Half of the pages in this thread are a result of the drama (and subsequent vitriol) after him leaving Bora.
You also keep regurgitating your own not-so-expert opinion. Uijtdebroeks' problem isn't that he can not improve anymore, it is that he has REGRESSED immensely. Once you understand this maybe you will start to realize that there is in fact a medical problem. Other than that, you are correct that Belgians are simply more interesting to talk about. This goes without saying.