An Italian cycling legend explains argues Tadej Pogacar may be better than Eddy Merckx: "Eddy arrived at the finish line exhausted, Tadej looks like he just came from training"
Cycling
Francesco Moser was a beastly cyclist who won, among many other things, 22 stages in the Giro d'Italia, the World Championships and 3 Paris-Roubaix. At the beginning of his career he coincided with Eddy Mercxk and now he wanted to compare him with Tadej Pogacar, with all that that implies.
The Italian cycling legend, who won the Giro in 1984, commented on the microphones of Il Mattino why he thinks the Slovenian is even better than the Belgian 'Cannibal': "I raced with Merckx, and he was strong. He had a very strong team to prepare the attacks, just like Pogacar has, but for me Pogacar wins more easily than Merckx. You see him coming in as if he was just out training, whereas Merckx was coming in beaten."
Of course, Moser is clear that it is always impossible to compare between eras and that it is completely impossible to determine who is really the best:
"It's hard to make these comparisons. It's hard to say because we will never have the definitive proof. So let's look at what is there today; we used to look at what we were doing, but comparisons from a distance are impossible."
However, he is very clear that cycling has changed a lot from his time to the present and that it has become extremely professionalized. Curious what he says about the material that the domestiques and the leaders received in his time and how it is completely different today:
"Today they race this way and it's more complicated to impose. Even Pogacar's rivals have the same as him; today the WorldTour teams spend millions of euros and can't afford to lose a race. When we raced, we gave the used tires to the domestiques and we, the captains, used the new ones, because we had to save money. Now, on the other hand, everyone has the best of the best".
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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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