Originally Posted by
surak
Not to mention the growing pains from Zwift Academy winners having to adapt to pack riding and navigating the caravan, even if they'd had lower-level road race experience. Or even late to the sport stars with fantastic physiologies like Roglic or AvV, who've made mistakes snatching defeat from the jaws of huge opportunities for victory. You can find plenty of stories of how invaluable it was for pros to learn how to ride in a tight peloton or have someone skillful to follow behind.
These examples contradict your argument, especially Roglic. Obviously having amazing bike handling skills is an advantage, but not a necessity. Otherwise we wouldn’t see such a wide variety of bike handling skill levels in the pro peloton. Neither would we see late crossover athletes and Zwifters if it was that hard to learn to an acceptable level. The skill level required for road cycling is hard, but not that hard.
Remember this is a relative argument. If you took an average competent club cyclist and gave them a 7 W/kg FTP they would soon be riding in the pro peloton. The select few who do have exceptional bike skills (usually gained from other more technical bike disciplines) just have an additional advantage.