Eddy Merckx is perhaps the greatest cyclist in history. As we head towards the first monument of the season,
Milano-Sanremo, we take a look at how he fares against pre-race favourite
Tadej Pogacar.
Comparisons are always odious, even more so when you put eras together, and these days there have been many articles in which the name of Tadej Pogacar is linked to that of El Caníbal for his ferocity, his hunger and his ability to win stages in short races like Paris-Nice or the Vuelta a Andalucía.
Pogacar can be compared to Merckx for his hunger, for his ability to climb climbs and for his quality in the time trials. But not for his sprinting. Pogacar is very fast, but not as fast as Eddy was, capable of winning the sprint in Paris. The Slovenian is unlikely to ever do that, no matter how fast he is.
Thus, that devilish speed made Eddy Merckx win up to 7 times the monument that has been best suited to sprinters throughout history, the Milan-San Remo. He won it in all colors, sprinting, solo, in small groups. An absolute barbarity.
He dominated the race for no less than 10 years, between 1966 and 1976, when he won his last San Remo on March 19 alone, 28 seconds ahead of Wladimiro Panizza and the later disqualified for doping Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (nice name to be disqualified for that reason). 10 years earlier in '66, he had won in a sprint in the main group.
This Saturday, Tadej Pogacar will try to win his first San Remo. If he succeeds, he will be compared to Eddy Merckx, but he would still be a long way from being compared to The Cannibal. Merckx has won a total of 18 monuments throughout his career, at the age of 24 Pogacar seeks to win his 4th.
