"Pedersen is not a bad rider, but he's not a good one either and certainly not great" - Roger De Vlaeminck slams the Giro star

Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx were the overlords of late 1960s and 1970s, winning 400+ races among the two. Those feets put them on top of the all-time ranking of cycling legends.

Mads Pedersen left a strong impression at the recent Giro d'Italia after an already strong spring, but how do the two men view his achievements? That is discussed in Het Nieuwsblad debate: "They're hyping him up because he won a few stages at the Giro d'Italia. But he can't win a time trial, and he can't win a mountain stage. To me, that doesn't make you a super rider. What has Pedersen won so far?" De Vlaeminck asks annoyedly.

Merckx then jumps to the defense of the 2019 world champion. "Careful. Gent-Wevelgem, three times. And if he doesn't crash at the wrong moment this year, I'd like to see him in Paris-Roubaix. And he was strong in the Giro."

De Vlaeminck is not impressed by any of that. While he won the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders for a combined amount of seven times. In the era of overlord Merckx, De Vlaeminck was able to rack up impressive 162 professional victories including six times the GC at Tirreno-Adriatico. And not just that.

"I won 22 stages at the Giro d'Italia and still finished fourth overall," he counters to Mads Pedersen's four stage wins at this year's Giro d'Italia.

People comparing Tadej Pogacar to Merckx also gets on the nerve of De Vlaeminck: "I'm not going to talk about Eddy. How many times did he win the Giro? Five times? Pogacar will have to hurry."

So what is the Belgian's assessment of Pedersen, the second man on this year's UCI ranking so far? "I'm not saying Pedersen is a bad rider, but he's not a good one. And he's certainly not great. That's my honest opinion, and that's the truth," he concludes.