+0
13:16
+7
21-08-2026 14:29
+3
21-08-2026 14:16
+2
19-08-2026 19:32
+10
18-08-2026 18:24
+17
18-08-2026 14:13
+13
16-08-2026 04:16
14-08-2026 01:27
14-08-2026 01:15
+5
13-08-2026 21:20
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+0
MidnightRider
Not sure what he says adds up. No one on Astana is keeping up with Pog, MVDP, Wout, Remco, etc., so we are not missing any big showdown because they are chasing UCI points. One could just as easily argue that we are getting a better product across more of the calendar by providing incentives for smaller teams to compete at non-marquee races.13:16
+7
MidnightRider
The departures are eye-opening, especially when coupled with the ongoing sponsor crisis. But if you look at the biggest cases individually, it's harder to see a pattern: - Yates didn't switch teams, he quit cycling. - Niermann left for a bigger role than he had at Visma - Benoot wanted to stay, but left for more money - Kooij left because Visma is not a true sprint team, and TDF was unlikely Meanwhile Wout, Sepp, and others continue on with no hint of controversy or tension. I think the sponsor thing is real, but that aside I think most of what we are seeing is the normal, even inevitable turnover of a team that has enjoyed huge success over a period of years. Whether they can survive this transition and stay at/near the top is a fair question, but I'm not sure I see anything "rotten."21-08-2026 14:29
+3
MidnightRider
Injuries aside, he just had the best year of his career and has negotiated a schedule that suits him better personally. Visma does seem to be going through a transition, but too many top professionals - Wout, Sepp, Laporte, Campy, etc. - are happy at Visma to say something is "rotten."21-08-2026 14:16
+2
MidnightRider
Interesting take. Seems like MVDP's cyclocross stardom would have been an added bonus for the sponsors of a Belgian cycling team. And Lefevere had worked with Boonen, Cavendish, and even Remco, but maybe MVDP was just too independent for him. Big mistake.19-08-2026 19:32
+10
MidnightRider
I only came on as a fan in 2019, by which time both of them had committed to other teams. So I never did get the story of how the most important classics team in modern cycling missed out on the two best classics riders of their generation. MVDP would have been a perfect fit in terms of personality and programming, but Wout is of course Belgian. It has worked out spectacularly well for both of them with other teams, but it was an epic miss by Lefevere and Soudal.18-08-2026 18:24
+17
MidnightRider
While I will always appreciate Lefevere's commitment to a Belgian classics squad, something the sport needs, he is nonetheless a pompous and boorish ass. No other leading figure in cycling is so publicly hostile to his own riders or so determined to keep himself in the spotlight through petty beefs. He blew his own team up to serve Remco and now spends his days as a grumpy old man.18-08-2026 14:13
+13
MidnightRider
1. MVDP should be no worse than third, and arguably 2nd. And I say that as a diehard WVA fan. 2. Alaphilippe's time at the top was too brief, and Ganna is a TT guy with limited results outside his specialty. Mads has a WC, multiple classics, and honors at all the GTs. Should be 9th behind Wout,16-08-2026 04:16
+0
MidnightRider
If it is easier for Pog to break Merckx's records, then it was also easier for Merckx to break the records he broke when he was newer. In effect you are arguing that the original GOATS - you know, those riders who smoked and worked real jobs 100 years ago - are permanently the best ever. Their records may fall, but only because it's....easier. Fair enough to say that early pioneers have a place in the sport that can never be replaced, but ludicrous to ignore that the cyclists of today, like athletes in almost every sport, are wildly stronger and more skilled than ever. There is a reason no one has done what Merckx did over the last 50 years, and its the same reason that easily (imo) qualifies Pog as the best rider of all time.14-08-2026 01:27
+0
MidnightRider
If you find it too difficult or uncertain, you are welcome to sit out the GOAT debate. But it will go on just the same, and it cannot be reduced to mere numbers. It involves judgment and the subjective weighing of evidence, and I am quite comfortable comparing riders of different eras and forming an opinion.14-08-2026 01:15
+5
MidnightRider
This is only true if you believe the single metric for greatness is career totals. A similar debate has taken place in golf; some say Jack for his totals, some say Tiger for his peak level. For me the GOAT is the one who reached the highest level of performance and sustained it over a long enough time to essentially redefine the sport. Merckx did so in his day, but Pog has done so against even deeper fields with more specialized competitors. Even if he never wins another race, he has done enough for me to rate him #1.13-08-2026 21:20