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Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives

Page 187 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
From Eddy's commentary he wouldn't agree in the least. And don't be so pessimistic about current riders not being able to leverage back to the old winning ways. "For sure", to use a Roglic expression, today's stars are capable of winning Grand Tours and Classics. It's all in the mentality and approach (and talent of course).
The overall quality and parity in the peloton today compared to Eddy's day is huge. The teams are deeper and, for the most part; better organized with margins for error much reduced. Now you have GTs won by seconds, not tens of minutes. That is a logical reality and there isn't a single rider capable of accomplishing what EM did. I would wager a re-boot version of Eddy couldn't even do it today.
 
The overall quality and parity in the peloton today compared to Eddy's day is huge. The teams are deeper and, for the most part; better organized with margins for error much reduced. Now you have GTs won by seconds, not tens of minutes. That is a logical reality and there isn't a single rider capable of accomplishing what EM did. I would wager a re-boot version of Eddy couldn't even do it today.
I'd wager a Merckx reboot would look stupidly underwhelming. His best asset would probably being a rouleur but's also the quality that's fallen by far the most in relevance. He'd probably a TTer/Flandrien type and be very underwhelming as a climber
 
I actually think of current/modern riders, Van Aert comes as closer than anyone to what Merckx was. TT'er, sprinter, cobbled rider who could climb. For his time, Merckx was also relatively tall and heavy (though Van Aert is still taller).
Yes, to some degree, and he certainly has a far more similar stature, but Merckx was relatively better in hilly races than cobbles compared to Van Aert. With the caveat that routes and race dynamics were different.
 
Yes, to some degree, and he certainly has a far more similar stature, but Merckx was relatively better in hilly races than cobbles compared to Van Aert. With the caveat that routes and race dynamics were different.
Difficult to compare. Back then it was Belgium, Italy, France, some Spaniards and some Dutch riders. Half of Merckx biggest rivals came from his own country. It wasn't a global sport at that time. Maybe it still isn't, but it's evolved so much since then.
 
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He'd be Evenepoel with a sprint. Doesn't sound underwhelming to me.
I haven't looked at his results in depth, but I really doubt it just because of the physical difference alone.

Tbh cycling is one of the few sports that as time went by it got much harder to equal or break records from way before. It may be a dumb hot take but in present day I don't think Merckx wouldn't stand out much
 
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I would like to see him try Flanders and PR.

See what he can do.

If he won Flanders or even Roubaix and nothing more the rest of his career I would count him as a legend. Nowadays a combination of victories and those races plus a GT seems almost unachieveable. A GT plus a cobbled monument, not much more would be needed to achieve legend status imo, espeically if the GT wasnt La Vuelta...
 
The overall quality and parity in the peloton today compared to Eddy's day is huge. The teams are deeper and, for the most part; better organized with margins for error much reduced. Now you have GTs won by seconds, not tens of minutes. That is a logical reality and there isn't a single rider capable of accomplishing what EM did. I would wager a re-boot version of Eddy couldn't even do it today.
No Eddy could not do it today or, according to Lemond, even in the 80s. Eddy was already critical of Lemond for not having won classics, the Giro and everything else. Lemond responded by saying that Merckx was out of his era and didn't account for progess, globalization etc. The level had risen tenfold. And that was back in 89, let alone now! Yet Eddy still speaks as if cycling were the same as in his day. Ultimately, however, it's ridiclous to make such comparisons. Today Eddy would have all the benefits of science, technology and materials. Conversely a rider of today would have to ride on steel and the rudimentary knowledge of science. It's safe to say Eddy today could be a champion, but not the dominant figure he was in the past. For the level is so much higher.
 
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About P-R. Doesn't the stress on the cobbles favors bulkier riders, with more mass to absorve the impact? Boonen, Cancellara are far from mountain goats. In 20 years of cycling fan, the "smaller" riderI've seen doing well in Roubaix was Moscon last week.
 
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About P-R. Doesn't the stress on the cobbles favors bulkier riders, with more mass to absorve the impact? Boonen, Cancellara are far from mountain goats. In 20 years of cycling fan, the "smaller" riderI've seen doing well in Roubaix was Moscon last week.
I think the impact of weight on cobbles is a little overrated, but instead it's a completely flat monument with a very heavy emphasis on pure endurance and rouleur skill with the least emphasis on threshold, W/kg or 1-3 minute spikes, which is completely different than what climby boys will train.

Impact = inertia = mass * velo city.

It's just that the best flyweight rouleurs have a million other things to focus on as well
 
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He was interviewed by Nieuwsblad:

Google translated:


But even him can still surprise you. After your disappointing Olympic road race, he advised against riding the time trial. But who won gold there?
(laughs) “I like nothing better than to surprise him. It wasn't the first time. I tell him that every now and then. Marc sometimes looks too much at numbers and graphs. But the urge, the hunger to win, you can't measure that with a wattage meter or some software program. Although I could understand him at the Games. The history is well known: I had fallen on my tailbone a few weeks earlier in the Tour and had to give up. I still had that problem in Tokyo. Cycling was no problem, but just sitting still hurt a lot. The problem was that before the road trip I had taken the bus for three hours to the start, after which I had been waiting in the bus for another two hours. Always on a seat. Result: the race had barely started when I got cramps in my back. I had to get off three times. I was crying on my bike.

Another compliment from your Belgian trainer: nothing is too much for Primoz Roglic. Sometimes you send your data at 12 noon and it turns out that you have already trained for seven hours.
“That was before the Games. In view of the jet lag, I wanted to adapt. Then I got up at four o'clock, waited a little longer and at five I was on my way. That is the advantage of living in Monaco. Everything is lit. Plus, if you're back at 12 noon, you've got the whole day ahead of you. Nice.”

His explanation of what happened at the Olympic RR nnd how he prepped for the Games was very enlightening.

All in All a great interview chock full of great info and quite revealing of the man behind the racers face.
 
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Re: Merckx
They should clone him and see what his duplicate can achieve with all the new knowledge and technology that has been intoduced since he was active. Personally I don't think he'd come close to his current record, but he'd be a Dominant rider of the highest quality.

Back to Primoz. Hoping he has great legs and good Luck. If so I can see him on the podium!
 
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