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Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel... Who has the best palmares in the modern peloton?
CyclingThursday, 08 August 2024 at 09:54
Remco Evenepoel is coming off the back of making history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, becoming the first man ever to win gold in both the time trial and the road race. On the other hand, Tadej Pogacar is having probably the best individual seasons in recent memory, winning the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France with six stage wins in each of the two Grand Tours, the Volta a Catalunya with four more stages and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Analysing the performances of Evenepoel, Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel to see who's palmares is leading the way, our colleagues at Ciclismoaldia dived in. In terms of quantity, it is clear that the Slovenian has a better track record, but in terms of quality a discussion can be opened. Remco is only 24 years old and he is already world champion in time trial and online, and also an Olympian in both disciplines. In addition, he has a Vuelta a España (2022) and a podium in the Tour de France 2024. To that we can add eight stage victories in grand tours and two monuments, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège won in 2022 and 2023. Finally, he also has three wins in the Clásica de San Sebastián, which is a record in the Basque race, shared with Marino Lejarreta.
Pogacar is no slouch. Just as internationally, when competing for his country, Evenepoel has better results than him, when it comes to the classic calendar of the season racing each with his team, Tadej has no rival. He already has four victories in grand tours (3 times the Tour de France and 1 Giro d'Italia), six in monuments (3 Il Lombardia, 2 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and 1 Tour of Flanders), 26 stages in three-week races (17 in the Tour, 6 in the Giro and 3 in the Vuelta), he has always finished on the podium of the seven grand tours in which he has participated. Finally, we can mention his 2 Strade Bianche, 1 Amstel Gold Race, 1 Flèche Wallonne, 2 Tirreno Adriatico or 1 Paris-Nice.
When we talk about the best palmares in cycling today, we also have to mention Mathieu van der Poel. Unlike the first two, the Dutchman is not in the general classification. However, he is a beast in the classics. He also has six monuments (1 Milan-San Remo, 2 Paris-Roubaix and 3 Tour of Flanders, a record shared with Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara, although he has several years to hold it alone). Like Remco, he's also a world road champion on the road. And to add to his palmares, he's already one of the greatest ever in cyclocross, if not the GOAT. He has six world championships and is one behind the top rainbow jersey winner in the discipline, Belgian Eric De Vlaeminck.
In terms of complete riders, these are the three with the best track records in cycling today. But we can also mention other cyclists. Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France twice, has four podiums and as many stage wins. In important one-week races he has 1 Itzulia del País Vasco, 1 Critérium du Dauphiné and 1 Tirreno Adriatico. In the Vuelta a España, he was second in 2023 with two personal victories.
Another name could be Wout van Aert. He has tended to have bad luck during his career due to various circumstances and has numerous second places in important races but still has a first class career. He has 9 stage wins in the Tour de France, 2 E3 Saxo Classic, 1 Ghent-Wevelgem, 1 Amstel Gold Race, 1 Strade Bianche and 1 monument like Milan-San Remo. In addition, as MVDP he is a specialist in cyclo-cross, being three times world champion and beating the Dutchman on more than one occasion.
Primoz Roglic is no longer in the prime of his career but he has a fantastic history, especially in the Vuelta a España, where he has won the final general classification three times, second most tied with Alberto Contador and Tony Rominger, one behind Roberto Heras who has four. He has 12 stage victories, 17 in total in grand tours, has also won the Giro d'Italia 2023 and is the active rider with the most important one-week races. 2 Tirreno Adriatico, 2 Itzulia, 2 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2 Tour de Romandie and 1 Paris-Nice are in his list of victories. To top it off, we can include a Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the gold medal in time trial at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
With the 'Big 6' completed, one last mention must also be made for Chris Froome, who, although he is no longer ready for world-class results, is still active. The Briton is still the cyclist still present in the peloton with the most Grand Tours (7), and the most Tour de France (4, with 7 stage wins). He also has 2 Vuelta a España, with 5 wins, and 1 Giro d'Italia, with 2 more, completing a total of 14 in the three major races of world cycling. Finally, he has 3 Criterium du Dauphiné and 2 Tour de Romandie.
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- Gets my vote
leedorney16-11-2024