Eddy Merckx discusses Tadej Pogacar and modern cycling: “I’m glad there was no social media in my time"

On Tuesday, Eddy Merckx turns 80, a milestone birthday for the man many still regard as the greatest cyclist of all time. A five-time Tour de France champion, winner of 34 Tour stages (a record that stood until Mark Cavendish surpassed it in 2024), Merckx also claimed five Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a España, three World Championships, and all five Monuments. No one has ever matched the breadth of his palmarès: eleven Grand Tours and nineteen Monuments by the time he retired at just 32.

To mark the occasion, Belgian broadcaster Sporza aired a special edition of Vive le Vélo on Sunday, with host Karl Vannieuwkerke joined by Merckx himself, his son Axel, and former Belgian national coach José De Cauwer. While much of the conversation was celebratory, it also touched on deeper themes: pressure, public perception, and how the sport has changed.

Merckx praised modern stars but expressed sympathy for the intensity they face today. “I’m glad there was no social media in my time,” he said. “Today’s riders have even more pressure, in terms of the press, than I did. That’s why they race less. If they raced as much as I used to, that pressure would no longer be sustainable.”

Tadej Pogacar, the 26-year-old Slovenian now being hailed as his heir apparent, was a clear focus. With nine Monument wins and four Grand Tour titles already (three Tour, one Giro), Pogacar has reignited the GOAT debate. He is still a long way off Merckx’s total, but Pogacar does indeed appear to be on a trajectory we have not seen since the Belgian legend.

But with dominance comes backlash. “You see that happening now with Pogacar,” Axel Merckx noted. “He wins so much that people start to hate him.”

For Axel, the hatred is all too familiar. As a child, he struggled with how his father was treated. “I saw images of people booing him or whistling at him. That shocked me. He was just doing his job. But those people were angry that he won.”

De Cauwer recalled a particularly raw moment from Axel’s early racing days: “I once went to watch a novice race with Eddy. Axel was in the leading group, but didn’t win. The father of the winner was walking on the other side and made false gestures and cursed Eddy,” he remembered. “I was rooted to the spot and could have cried. How bad is that? What can the boy do about it?”