I agree theyre not the smartest at all, they just have money nothing else but its neverthess a cheat code in modern cycling.They just have by far the most watts and brute force but it only goes that far in big races and applies to all teams honestly, without the strongest rider in said race its hard to win big races unless your just lucky, you can have the best team and still not win, Pogacar 2020 is prime example of that where Visma rider by rider was laughable strong but Pogacar himself was strongest. Or take Lidl now for instance super classic team now but their leader isnt MvdP so results isnt the same.
I agree, I wanted him too. But we don’t know if thats because Pogacar himself said no. You feel me? I think he did, and wanted the WC and was naturally tired and so on. At the end of the day, that’s just fans speculating, we dont know that.
Also while i agree think about this, for future implications, it’s hard to know what kind of toll it would take on him at that age, and how it might affect his development with three consecutive GT. Objectively, it’s a tough call imo without knowing how fresh he was and numbers etc. Easier down the line when hes older to make that call if you ask me anyway, less to loose.