1974 - Eddy Merckx's best ever season? How does it fare against Tadej Pogacar in modern cycling?
Cycling
When Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championships in 2024 - alongside others, many wondered if this was the greatest season ever seen in cycling. However, 50 years earlier, one man had already achieved that triple. That man, of course, was Eddy Merckx, the protagonist of a 1974 year that we analyze in detail and ponder on which of the two campaigns was the best.
The Belgian opened his season by winning the Trofeo Laigueglia, then held in February. More discreet results followed: 4th in the Giro di Sardegna, 12th in the Sassari-Cagliari and 6th in the Omloop Het Volk. The first big race of the year was Paris-Nice, where Merckx again demonstrated his dimension: he won the prologue, two stages and finished 3rd overall, only beaten by Joop Zoetemelk and Alain Santy.
In the Setmana Catalana, Merckx was second, again behind Zoetemelk, although he won both the points classification and the mountains classification. His time in the classics left a collection of honorable places:
- 3rd in the Tour of Flanders
- 2nd in Gent-Wevelgem
- 4th in Paris-Roubaix
- 3rd in the Coppa Placci
- 2nd in the Rund um den Henninger Turm
- Victory at the Grand Prix de Momignies
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Giro-Tour double
Before the Giro, Merckx finished 4th in the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, behind Walter Godefroot, Michael Wright and Freddy Maertens. In the Italian race he signed another exhibition: he won the time trial, took an additional stage, won the overall ahead of Gianbattista Baronchelli and Felice Gimondi.
Without pause, only five days later, he started the Tour de Suisse, where he finished in the top five in all the stages and won the overall, the mountains and the regularity.
A week later he was already at the Tour de France, where his performance was historic: victory in the prologue, one of the two individual time trials and six more stages, adding eight wins (out of 26 stages, not the current 21) on his way to an undisputed yellow jersey, beating Raymond Poulidor and Vicente Lopez by more than eight minutes.
After a three-week break, Merckx returned as if nothing had happened: 5th in the Leeuwse Pijl and 9th in the GP Union Dortmund. The big event came in Montréal, where he won the World Championships (the third and last of his career), accompanied on the podium by the Frenchmen Poulidor and Mariano Martinez. Interestingly, Pogacar has the chance of matching that achievement this year in... Montréal.
The campaign did not end there. Merckx won the Critérium des As, was 6th in the Circuit de l'Aulne, 5th in the Coppa Agostoni, 2nd in the Giro di Lombardia (second only to Roger de Vlaeminck), 4th in A Travers Lausanne, won the Escalada a Montjuic, including all three stages which took place on the same day and finished 3rd in the Trofeo Baracchi.
Eddy Merckx is one of the greatest cyclists of all time
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- It’s off-season mate, I’m bored and fed up with the mediocrity of people unwilling to provoke change when they admit things aren’t right. What have you done lately to make anyone realise you won’t put up with things? What conversation, are you dictating to me which part of the incident I have to be interested in or telling me other parts are taboo? That’s what I guess the UCI would really like, let them moan, let it blow over for them pass on to the next thing, let’s keep the status quo, let’s try our best not reviewing or revealing anything about decision-making just like every time before, they’re used to it by now so we can take the risk they’ll never give us grief.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- As far as CUTD headlines go this is far from the worst. It helps if you look at it twice and realise it’s a list of descriptions from distinct events. You can’t deny the reality of being a rival if you consider the picture immediately below, frontrunner is unfortunate but I’m guessing this time it’s more a linguistic failure than a clickbaiting opportunity. Just a reminder that this is not an anglo website, for those who find it too tedious to interpret text to get the gist of things which are rarely of great importance (as opposed to eg purposely biaised DOJ extradition translations in order to achieve hidden agendas), there are plenty of anglo cycling websites google can suggest.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Ah, finally someone willing to be a bit proactive.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- So? Do you understand the way instructions, decisions and authority work? Do you think in a football match if after a match (or even after play has gone on) a player tells the referee he did touch the ball with his hands when the referee didn’t award opponents a penalty that they will revise the score or force a replay? You really don’t get my point, it’s not against the rider but everyone here is so emotional for her they can’t get back to an issue which needs resolving for the future and the first step (or maybe second) is to try to understand how and why it happens, none of you have contributed in the least to that. All everyone is interested in is letting everyone know they agree how unjust it was, not even sure anyone thinks that could affect anything.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Shouldn’t you be in MOUrning?Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Maybe you don’t like it and that’s fine, we all have different sensibilities and topics that touch us, but as you try to show me, it doesn’t hurt to reflect and compare ourselves to others behaving similarly. What precisely is the difference between a sports fan interested in every detail of his/her hero’s life and a celeb fan having the same hobby? It’s far more interesting to learn and think about how and why (which) people do things than reading about what they are actually doing. And just to add another level, maybe you’ll agree we don’t use the same value system for everyone, we discriminate in an enormous number of systematic ways. For example, when is the last time you saw a discussion arguing about the achievements of two politicians to compare or for that matter two business leaders apart from the comparison of hypothetical wealth accumulated? Perhaps you misunderstood the intention?Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- I don’t think I know what’s beneath the surface but I am willing to think about it, discuss it, compare it to a known past, extrapolate to a potential future and ask/try to find out truth or even take action within my powers (boycotting something or someone is within EVERY person’s reach). If you think your attitude has more chance of changing a result, a process, a system or an institution or it just makes you feel good, keep at it but to me it looks like you’ve already given up before trying.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- All journalists should start asking the UCI uncomfortable questions, sending inquiries about the interpretation of the rules and the justification of the results. This is the only way to change anything.averagecyclist09-11-2026
- OFF TOPIC: OK, don't get mad with me... I have some very important news, something that can't be overlooked, something that can't be ignored!!! In the new documentary Anatomy of a G.O.A.T. (released in November 2026), legendary Belgian cyclist EDDY MERCKX spoke about TADEJ POGAČAR: Merckx: “He has revived a style of cycling that we had almost forgotten. He is now better than me.” Key statements by Merckx about Pogačar in 2026: - Acknowledging his superiority: This time, Merckx openly admitted, without any subsequent backtracking or reservations, that Pogačar had surpassed him and was now above him. This contrasts with 2024, when he quickly softened his remarks about Pogačar being faster. - The possibility of a historic triple (Giro, Tour and Vuelta): During the July Tour de France (where Pogi claimed his fifth title), Merckx stated that Pogi was the only cyclist in history capable of winning all three Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España) in a single season, provided the conditions were right and he had sufficient team support. - Lack of serious competition: Merckx emphasised that Pogačar has no real rivals in the mountains since 2024, thanks to his extraordinary climbing ability and the fact that he continues to improve despite still being under 28 (he turned 28 in autumn 2026). - Praise for his racing style: Merckx highlighted how Pogačar is bringing back the aggressive, uncompromising spirit of cycling's golden era, when races were not merely about calculated stages and tactical conservatism, but about attacking from long distances. PS: Now, this is real important cycling news. This is not "boring" ... this is called making real history, not BS history. Capish?PogiSloFans09-11-2026
- how else is there to look at things? we are responding to words and pictures, we are not there. your long winded replies make zero sense to anyone. pretty much everyone but you says the same thing. MS was robbed. somehow you think you're so smart to dig beneath the surface and discover something no one else, including the opposing coach and cyclist, saw. lol. you are a tool.mij09-11-2026
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