The longevity is quite something - some sprinters finally have enough of dragging their heavy bodies of fast twitch muscles up and down mountains within the time cut, some lose their nerve after a serious crash and are never quite the same when things heat up at the end of a stage. Many fade away as their results don't earn them one of the limited spots on a top team. To keep doing that year after year, as fast young guys come and go, to still be in a GT and winning after 16 years is quite something.
I get that many prefer the skillset of a Pog or mvdp, or prefer watching thermonuclear attacks up monster climbs to a sprint (I love those too), but I personally also find much to admire in making those split second decisions at high speed after a long stage, to still have the killer instinct to go for the gap without thinking of all those crashes over the years, to perform when a team is depending on you.
Congrats Cav.