I read about the changing of the guard in some other topic and started thinking about what we perceived as one of the most talented generations in cycling for a long time: the riders born in 1990.
Flashback to the end of 2017 and you had Quintana podiuming his 6th GT and still looking like the best pure climber in the world, Sagan winning his 3rd straight WC, Dumoulin with his first (of many, we thought) GT and a WC ITT title, Kwiatkowski winning Sanremo and Strade Bianche, Bardet with consecutive podiums at the Tour and Fabio Aru wearing the yellow jersey for a few days and winning the tricolore in dominant fashion.
But where are they know?
Peter Sagan: hasn't looked like his dominant self for at least 2 years. Struggles to win GT stages, lacks speed in the sprints, has switched to PRT level.
Nairo Quintana: still shows flashes of incredible level going uphill but consistency has completely disappeared. Has been at PRT level since 2020. No GT podiums in his last 7 attempts after podiuming 6 of his first 9 GTs ridden.
Tom Dumoulin: a big crash in the 2019 Giro led to 3 seasons of injuries, mental struggles, mistakes, a team switch and a hiatus from the sport. Seems in a better place now, but who knows if he still has the potential to win a GT?
Michal Kwiatkowski: has been fairly anonymous for 3 years now (just one professional win since 2018, a TDF stage). His decline hasn't probably been as clear because he still gets some good results here and there, but we all thought he would win a lot more classics than he did.
Romain Bardet: another rider who hasn’t been particularly bad, but the promise he showed earlier in GTs has almost vanished. No GT podiums since 2017.
Fabio Aru: the most spectacular and sudden decline among the mentioned riders, and likely one the cycling history books will remember. Went from contesting GTs to not being able to follow the peloton in a flat stage. Once touted as the next big thing for Italian cycling, he retired at 31.
Michael Matthews: not sure he deserves to be included since I don’t believe he was ever in the same tier of the other riders, and he has actually been pretty consistent recently (although with just one pro win since 2019).
Thibaut Pinot: hurts to have him in this list, but his back issues and mental struggles have completely changed his career trajectory. Perhaps abandoning the Tour when in prime position to win it in 2019 was really too much to take.
Nacer Bouhanni: again, not at the same level of the other riders, but from 2013 to 2017 he had 5 consecutive seasons with at least 1000 points on PCS. Has then failed to clear 600 points in the following 4 years.
Esteban Chaves: podiumed both the Giro and the Vuelta in 2016, then the Epstein-Barr virus, some crashes, etc and we’re now happy if he wins a stage and finishes in the top20 of a GT. An Aru-like kind of decline but with more smiles along the way.
Of course, there’s one giant counter example here: Sonny Colbrelli, who went from being a very consistent .1 and .HC winner to one of the best classic riders in the world in 2021. But overall the demise of generation 90 can’t be denied. So what has happened? Too much pressure from the fans / media / peers? A new stronger generation emerged and took over? They just got old before we thought they would? Fame, money and success sapped their motivation?
Flashback to the end of 2017 and you had Quintana podiuming his 6th GT and still looking like the best pure climber in the world, Sagan winning his 3rd straight WC, Dumoulin with his first (of many, we thought) GT and a WC ITT title, Kwiatkowski winning Sanremo and Strade Bianche, Bardet with consecutive podiums at the Tour and Fabio Aru wearing the yellow jersey for a few days and winning the tricolore in dominant fashion.
But where are they know?
Peter Sagan: hasn't looked like his dominant self for at least 2 years. Struggles to win GT stages, lacks speed in the sprints, has switched to PRT level.
Nairo Quintana: still shows flashes of incredible level going uphill but consistency has completely disappeared. Has been at PRT level since 2020. No GT podiums in his last 7 attempts after podiuming 6 of his first 9 GTs ridden.
Tom Dumoulin: a big crash in the 2019 Giro led to 3 seasons of injuries, mental struggles, mistakes, a team switch and a hiatus from the sport. Seems in a better place now, but who knows if he still has the potential to win a GT?
Michal Kwiatkowski: has been fairly anonymous for 3 years now (just one professional win since 2018, a TDF stage). His decline hasn't probably been as clear because he still gets some good results here and there, but we all thought he would win a lot more classics than he did.
Romain Bardet: another rider who hasn’t been particularly bad, but the promise he showed earlier in GTs has almost vanished. No GT podiums since 2017.
Fabio Aru: the most spectacular and sudden decline among the mentioned riders, and likely one the cycling history books will remember. Went from contesting GTs to not being able to follow the peloton in a flat stage. Once touted as the next big thing for Italian cycling, he retired at 31.
Michael Matthews: not sure he deserves to be included since I don’t believe he was ever in the same tier of the other riders, and he has actually been pretty consistent recently (although with just one pro win since 2019).
Thibaut Pinot: hurts to have him in this list, but his back issues and mental struggles have completely changed his career trajectory. Perhaps abandoning the Tour when in prime position to win it in 2019 was really too much to take.
Nacer Bouhanni: again, not at the same level of the other riders, but from 2013 to 2017 he had 5 consecutive seasons with at least 1000 points on PCS. Has then failed to clear 600 points in the following 4 years.
Esteban Chaves: podiumed both the Giro and the Vuelta in 2016, then the Epstein-Barr virus, some crashes, etc and we’re now happy if he wins a stage and finishes in the top20 of a GT. An Aru-like kind of decline but with more smiles along the way.
Of course, there’s one giant counter example here: Sonny Colbrelli, who went from being a very consistent .1 and .HC winner to one of the best classic riders in the world in 2021. But overall the demise of generation 90 can’t be denied. So what has happened? Too much pressure from the fans / media / peers? A new stronger generation emerged and took over? They just got old before we thought they would? Fame, money and success sapped their motivation?