I'm curious to see Hirschi against Pogacar. I think he will be a bigger threat than Remco specially after his fantastic summer shape and he will race at home.
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Not sure about Hirschi. Except from San Sebastian, he has been a no show in the real big classics and scenarios.
He looks like Pogacar in .1 fields and like Simone Petilli (no offence there) in Monuments and huge scenarios.
Unsure if its something about the distance / endurance (similar to Ulissi, who could not handle more than 200 kms) or more of a mental thing.
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I'm going to see Quebec race, just to see Mollema beating Pogacar in a sprint. It will make me feel better 😄
I think Hirschi can be good in big classics but I have a feeling he doesn't perform well sometimes because he has to support Pogacar.
Ironically I could see Merckx winning Paris tours if he focused on it
Which he is honestly very bad at. Total non-factor in Strade, getting dropped on Mele/Cervo in Milan San Remo while being supposed to be one of the longest lasting domestiques. And I honestly can't remember it was better in other years than this year.
That idea only makes sense if you teleport him in this era and give him access to modern training, nutrition and rest.
Vice versa, teleportating Pogacar into Merckx era would only serve a purpose in comparison if he'd have to to this eras training, nutrition, race load etc.
Ofc you can wonder what Merckx from the 70ies would do, but what would we learn from that?
Btw.: is there any knowledge on how many watts he could push? Also with the racing schedule, what kind of peak are we talking about?
You must consider the evolution of the sport, not only in terms of science and technology, but talent scouting, globalizzation, etc. The pool in the late 60s/early 70s was pretty much limited to continental riders, with the obvious exceptions. Put Merckx in with today's group and, due to his size and structure, he would probably have a hard time keeping up in the mountains or in the TTs with the likes of those at the top today. He was not the dominat climber in his day, but had exceptional performances. Would the benefits, but also the resultant tougher competition, of that evolution allow him to obtain today a superior level of Pogacar? This is an open question. In essence did Merckx have the same capacity (I intentially avoid the word "talent", because science has taken over) as Pogacar now (and we could throw in the various Vingegaards and Evenepoels)? In short, did Merckx have the same power and endurance, minus the sport's evolution, as the Bigs of today? That is the question.
Merckx would not win half of his wins in this era but I can't know how good he was because he raced 50 years ago. We have an all new sport right now and Merckx was the best of his generation while Pogacar is the best of his generation. I just appreciate what I am witness and this young man is a hell of a rider!
That's been stated since the 1980s, still Merckx won 5 Tours, 5 Giros and a Vuelta, 7 MSR, 2 Flanders, 3 PR, 5 LBL, 3 Worlds and 2 Lombardia, so anyway you cut it that's pretty damn good. He looks pretty damn good too here.
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How do you know that?
You can't all rewrite history, it's almost like some "woke" thing here.
He is the GOAT of this sport like Michael jordan is the GOAT of basketball, this is nothing about being the best of each generation.
Yet there‘s few things where Jordan is ahead of LeBron, even though LeBron is playing in a more modern league
Bill Russell the goat , he is Merckx of basketball
Another show! One hard week of training and he is ready to rock in Zurich!
It seems he finished the Tour just yesterday, impressive. He's leaner as ever, clearly in top shape. He will be unstoppable in WC
Definitely. He will follow the usual building up to get to the top in two weeks. A bit like he does for the italian classics, which starts "slowly" as a human being to reach the alien mode . But with these legs it would already be enough. Psychologically today has already dealt a first tough blow to his opponents.
Yes, he knows how to peak for a race. This is not his mutant shape yet.
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