"He is really doing Merckxian things" - Tadej Pogacar one of the greatest ever according to Tom Dumoulin
Cycling
In the latest display of his brilliance, Tadej Pogacar powered to a stunning solo victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday afternoon. According to Tom Dumoulin, the Slovenian has his chapter in the annals of cycling history confirmed.
"We have had quite a nice spring," the former Giro d'Italia winner reflects for NOS. "Just like last year, a number of riders stood head and shoulders above the rest. If they go, the rest actually don't stand a chance. This resulted in beautiful solos by Mathieu van der Poel in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. And yesterday with Pogacar at Liege-Bastogne Liege."
"I saw that Pogacar has already won more than fifty WorldTour victories," Dumoulin continues, in awe of the UAE Team Emirates leader's recent performances. "If he continues like this, he will go down in the history books as one of the best cyclists ever. And for me, he already is. He is really doing Merckxian things."
The fact that Pogacar didn't just win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege but was so dominant, is a testament to the immense level of the 25-year-old. "Pogacar is not half or one percent better in the hills, but just five percent. He can choose when he goes. He ensures that his team controls the game, then he can save energy until he goes full steam ahead on the Côte de la Redoute. But he could also have said: you know what, I'll leave a climb earlier. Or a climb later. It doesn't really matter to him," Dumoulin concludes. "As a former athlete, I can enjoy those solos. But of course they don't really give you exciting races. That may be a bit of a shame, but it also has its charm. They are top athletes in top form, you look at the highest of the highest.”
Nobody will become heir of Merckx. At least not yet anyway.
Oh Tom. For years Merckx was racing 120-140 days a year (winning half the time) I would say Tadej will get to about half that now that he’s attempting a GT double (and he won’t be winning every 2nd stage (even though in theory in the Giro he should be able to) so his average is sure to drop.
Horses for courses. Different training, nutrition, bikes, athletes etc now. Let's just stick with Merckx was the best in his time and Pog is now. We'll never know if Pog could have beat Merckx, but Pog is certainly hands down the best of the present moment, bar none.
I would love to see Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Roglic and Pogacar once at the start in LBL. Then see if Pogacar is still from another planet
Vingegaard and Roglic wouldn't do much in LBL. It's not artritional nor does it have long climbs therefore Vingo can safely be put out of the equation, he's just not a classics rider. Evenepoel would be good competition but Pogi, I think, would still beat him on the Redoutte. He just set the record there if I'm not mistaken.
Why this sounds like what those people saying Messi was the "greatest of all time" in football?
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- That made me smile Suipedali. Nice one!Cyclingsbestfan14-03-2025
- Even if Pogi has 5s on top of Poggio, he's getting caught on descent unfortunately. And it's extremely unlikely that he will have morevappaxbipmv14-03-2025
- If Pogi can drop him, then he will winabstractengineer14-03-2025
- In that sense, those two have less in common than the link you could make between demonstrators, right handers, Hinault and Merckx.Mistermaumau14-03-2025
- "He apparently thought it was completely fine." Nothing broken and no concussion, that's as completely fine as it gets in cyclingvappaxbipmv14-03-2025
- Better safe than sorry. At least his injuries are a lot less severe than they were last year.
santiagobenites14-03-2025 - Well spotted :-)Mistermaumau14-03-2025
- One thing Jonas Vingegaard has in common with Hinault is that they are moaners, although I couldn't see Jonas giving a demonstrator a right hander!Suipedali14-03-2025
- They are surprisingly rare on the pro circuit, around our area, one in four races finishes of with a really steep 500m climb at the end.Mistermaumau14-03-2025
- Give him an uphill sprint, then he may win against pure sprinters.
KerisVroom14-03-2025