That's interesting about the mercenary, Jay V$ne, the categorisation of him as stupid, I can see where people are coming from but I have a different outlook. Devoid of charisma, robotic, lacking in finesse on the bike perhaps, but I think this has been misunderstood.
He strikes me as clinical, direct, completely open about what drives him. Many of the best have (to varying degrees) materialistic ambition; Froome, Cavendish, Van Der Poel, Pogacar, but what separates him is how open he is about his motivations. A gun for hire, The Day of the Jackal, sold to the highest bidder. This is unlikely to endear him to many, but sport needs characters with differing and competing motivations to stay interesting. I also think he is underrated as a cyclist, and with proper uninterrupted training could be used as a 3rd GC option, maybe he will even win here.
His opposite would be riders like Seville, Mancebo, Bala, who stay for love of the game alone. I can see Bernal and Superman Lopez going down a similar route, perhaps even Roglic, guys who probably should be told to stop before they are carted off in a Hearse.
In the middle people you have those impossible to pin down, but they are rare in cycling. In sport Ronnie O'Sullivan is the best example, a man who both hates and loves snooker, cursed with his own genius, who talks about prize money but would give it all up just to be left alone. Extrovert and introvert on the most extreme ends of the spectrum.
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