"Eddy Merckx was a real professional who largely rode against cigar farmers" - Ex-pro says Tadej Pogacar far more impressive than the legendary 'Cannibal'
CyclingWednesday, 19 June 2024 at 17:58
Tadej Pogacar was utterly dominant at the first Grand Tour of the season, taking victory by an incredibly impressive margin of just short of ten minutes at the Giro d'Italia, drawing comparisons to the legendary Eddy Merckx as a result. According to ex-pro Danny Nelissen however, Merckx is nothing special to be compared to in the first place.
"Does Pogacar come close to Eddy Merckx as the greatest cyclist of all time? I don't think Merckx is the best cyclist ever anyway," says the 53-year-old Dutchman, who rode the Tour de France three times in his career, including a second placed finish on stage 4 of the 1996 edition, in conversation with Wielerrevue. "Merckx was a real professional who largely rode against cigar farmers. People who had to work on the side because they couldn't make a living of their sport. It was a bit like the time of women's cycling today. You can compare it a bit with that. There are riders with gigantic contracts who can make a great living for their sport and there is a very large group who have to cycle for 500 euros and a shirt and pants."
The fact that Pogacar is being so dominant against a field of supremely talented professionals in their own right, makes the Slovenian, UAE Team Emirates leader far more impressive than Merckx ever was according to Nelissen. "Everyone always talks about Eddy Merckx's hundreds of victories, but you may also wonder who he won them against," he explains.
"Currently the peloton consists of all highly paid professionals. No, I find the supremacy of Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel more impressive than that of Merckx,” the Dutchman concludes, referencing the epic one-day performances of the Rainbow Jersey wearing Dutchman who has also drawn comparisons to Merckx in recent times thanks to the manner of his victories.
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No-one know what happened to dragonface?
Of course, when Merckx raced there were real Journalists, who actually knew the difference between participles and gerunds, for example. They would never say something is "alright", e.g., because they knew it was two words. They also would know the meaning of e.g., (not to be confused with i.e.). Today's journalists generally were taking the easiest major in college that they can find. They obviously don't study their history. But they figure if they can right something that sounds __, well you fill in the GenZ or Millenial word you prefer - then they can get immediate attention.
The problem may not be the people Merckx raced against. It might be supercilious journalists of today.
Yeah Merckx was a bum riding against farmers. Let's have Colnago replicate Merckx's track bike exactly and see if Pogi can beat his hour record on it. Who is this guy ? If he's 53 he isn't even Merckx's generation. For that matter he isn't even Hinault's generation.
Pog wouldn’t dope to break the hour record tho would he!
These doping arguments are just too funny.
The majority of fans base doping along the lines of - When a guy beats your hero he’s doped but when your hero beats another guy he’s just better (and clean), right?
So, generally everyone dopes but the guy who beats them all is clean?
What’s funny is when you travel a lot, in every place where there’s a local with a chance of winning a big event like a grand tour (though it doesn’t have to be cycling), the locals will always state the other guy is doped if he beats theirs but if he doesn’t, their clean local is just better than the best of all the others, including the best that are best doped, is that not a bit too hypocritical and illogical to take seriously?
Eddy Merckx might be like baseballs Mickey Mantle or tennis Rod Laver or golfs Arnold Palmer from that same time period.
There wasn't money in professional sports like there is today so the competition wasn't going to be as deep as today. Let's get real and not compare. Everything and everyone suffers in comparison.
The fields don't have to be deep to be highly competitive either. Like our friends ask when we win a race, "Who finished second to you"?
Oh the irony.
"You can't compare cyclists from different eras."
...Proceeds to compare cyclists from different eras.