Watching Arnaud Demare win Stage 6 of the Giro a few days ago, I was reminded of Cav at his best, hanging in up a stiff climb just before the finish, and somehow finding his way into a perfect position to unleash a demolishing sprint. Because it's been a while, it's easy to forget just how good he was.
He might be 4 stages short of Merckx's record, but Merckx's total includes time trials, Cav won the most mass start stages in the Tour de France, and it is hard to see anyone getting close to 30 stages given the current propensity to hilly finishes.