Opinion: How Tadej Pogacar can become the first rider in decades to win all five monuments of cycling
CyclingMonday, 03 April 2023 at 11:49
Only 3 riders in the history of cycling have won all 5 monuments. That is: Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Giro di Lombardia. Tadej Pogacar may be the first rider in decades to achieve this after at age 24 he took his third different monument home.
To date, only Eddy Merkx (a whopping 19 monuments), Roger de Vlaeminck (11) and Rik van Looy (8) have managed to achieve glory in the 5 most important classics. Tadej Pogacar has won 3 at the age of 24: twice Il Lombardia and once both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Flanders after his exhibition today. He still has to win San Remo and Roubaix to complete his monuments poker.
Is it possible?
It's possible, yes, of course it's possible. In Sanremo Pogacar has proven to be able to be very close to the best and, as long as the race continues to be decided by an attack on the Poggio and not the sprint, the Slovenian is going to be one of the favorites.
In theory, it is more complicated for him to win Paris-Roubaix, due to his lack of hills, although he has demonstrated both in the Tour de France and in Flanders that his ability to dominate the pavé is perfect.
Eurosport expert Juan Antonio Flecha commented that he sees Pogacar as having enough quality to be able to challenge for Roubaix in the future. Pogacar himself commented after winning in Flanders that he will try, but that he must "gain weight and strength in his hands" to better adapt to so many kilometers of cobblestones.
Regarding Sanremo, 'Pogi' commented that it is "the most complicated race". That, as we have already mentioned, doesn't mean that one day he can't leave all his rivals on the Poggio and take the final victory in a race that until a decade ago was almost always decided by an attack, but which today adapts to his characteristics because of the way it is raced.
What do you think? Will Pogacar win the 5 monuments?
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