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Tim Merlier Thread

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With all the commotion because of the crashes we can't forget what a magnificient season this man has.
First Giro and a stage win on stage 2.
First Tour and a stage win on stage 3.
That's incredible!

I don't know about the title, but here are his 2021 wins:
 
Merlier definitely the sprinter to beat next year in my opinion. He is also older then I thought, I thought he was in his early 20s.

Maybe just doing one GT is better as he left the Giro citing fatigue and most likely would have OTL in the Tour. AF also has a monster team to support him.
 
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The new Cipollini in many ways. Superfast but not the endurance/ability and inclination to get over the big mountains to finish Grand Tours.

Sprinters are hard to rank as they tend to run in streaks as when they are hot the wins come in a rush but for no clear reason they can just go away from that form. They are also heavily reliant on the quality of their leadout such as the record of elite sprinters pre and post riding for DQS.

For a single sprint I think he is arguably the top dog right now but for a Grand Tour Ewan/Bennett are better bets to stick around and deliver wins deeper into the race when in prime form.
 
The new Cipollini in many ways. Superfast but not the endurance/ability and inclination to get over the big mountains to finish Grand Tours.

Sprinters are hard to rank as they tend to run in streaks as when they are hot the wins come in a rush but for no clear reason they can just go away from that form. They are also heavily reliant on the quality of their leadout such as the record of elite sprinters pre and post riding for DQS.

For a single sprint I think he is arguably the top dog right now but for a Grand Tour Ewan/Bennett are better bets to stick around and deliver wins deeper into the race when in prime form.
Cipo was always able to finish the Giro, so don't know if it's a great comparison. Maybe the new Ivan Quaranta.
 
Really strange career progression for a sprinter. Racing on the road as a pro since 19 but only winning big races at 26 and then the best in the world at 28.
He wasn't a road racer until 2019. He was basically full time CX who used road as prep for CX.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest you don't know much about Cyclocross which is why you didn't know this.
Otherwise you could say the same of Van der Poel ;) Who was also full time CX until 2018
 
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