Jonathan Gault caught on a hot mic stating Pre didn’t grasp the concept of winning. He’s right. When will we stop acting like Pre was the greatest thing ever? If he didn’t die at such a young age, would he be looked at as the guy that could never win the big race?
Note from Rojo on 12/7: Jonathan said the comment before out podcast started when we were talking about how Graham Blanks won in Boston after running a self-admitted selfish race. I said something along the lines of "That race would make Pre turn over in his grave" and then Jon responded with his quote. We put it in the podcast just for fun but it's not like Jon doesn't respect Pre. He was mainly defending Graham and we thought it was a funny line as it seems like Pre is almost a myth at this point - not someone that can be talked about objectively. And the fact that a volunteer mod deleted this thread kind of proves that point.
I think the question the OP has raised is a great one - if Pre had lived, would he have been able to win big international races?
What was his speed like? What's interesting to me is we see some of this nowadays with Jakob. He makes a big deal about how he is the pacemaker in the 1500. "I am the pacemaker." But have you noticed he wasn't the pacemaker in Budapest? Admittedly he was sick, but when he's healthy, will he set the pace there? I highly doubt it as his speed at 5000 is better than everyone else's.