No Ta Doctor
Über Member
I'm not sure it's comparable. Merckx won a lot of his (one-day) races because he could sprint well. I don't think I've ever seen anyone whose basic MO is to simply ride off the front from way out and hold that gap to the end. You got Merckx, Hinault and guys like that doing it now and then, but never in every single race.
I think that's a part of the issue for me - with a sprinter that wins often you always think there's a chance he'll muck up, his train will get a corner wrong, someone loses a wheel, so the suspense is there to the end of the race. Pog is winning races from distances we wouldn't have even seen televised just a couple of years ago. You turn on the TV and the race is already effectively over - barring some rare misfortune/bad day
Pog's only been caught once as far as I can remember - in Amstel this season, where Remco and Skjelmose chased him down. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been caught if he had the form he's displayed the last couple of weeks.