Tadej Pogacar on beating Mark Cavendish's record and matching Eddy Merckx' palmarès: "I don't think it's possible the same"

Tadej Pogacar has won six stages at both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this year - besides many other quality results. Eyeing big records in the world of cycling may be something he can pursue in the future, and he has talked about matching Mark Cavendish's Tour de France stage win record and Eddy Merckx' legendary palmarès.

"I actually don't see so many people saying 'he shouldn't win so much'. The ones that hate me they will say that, but obviously they hold something against me it's normal," the Slovenian said in words at a large interview with Peter Attia. But even the people that are neutral don't say that I should hold back or win so much; it's just the media and commentators and journalists like to say these things [to have something controversial to say]. But I really don't see so much controversy in this, because also for me in some stages [...] we control to win only 7 [out of 12] stages so it's only half, it's not 'so bad'".

Definitely Pogacar has been the aim of criticism during the Giro but mostly during the Tour de France over his dominance - both from riders and from outside the peloton - but most notable were the doping insinuations that came, specially after the stage to Plateau de Beille - where many question how it's possible for him to have removed minutes from the time of peak Marco Pantani in 1998 when he also won the Giro-Tour double.

With five Tours in the legs, Pogacar has conquered 17 stage wins already - pretty much halfway through the record of Mark Cavendish. Can this become a goal? "I don't want to think so much ahead, just because you never know when is your last win," he responds. "If it's there you take it, if you enjoy and you feel good you go for the stage - unless there is some other reason. 35 stages from Cavendish is just crazy and yeah it's an incredible achievement, but I don't want to think so much ahead. I want to go from Tour to Tour and what can I do".

Another question is matching the palmarès of Eddy Merckx, widely regarded as the most successful cyclist of alltime. "I don't know how to respond to that, for sure he was one of the greatest specially at his time, it was incredible how he won the races and I mean, I never saw any of his racing but when you read his palmarès it's unbelievable," Pogacar admires. But realistically speaking, no pro rider including Pogacar can achieve such results in modern cycling: "Something you cannot imagine in this era to achieve, so I don't think it's possible the same of what he did. It's different cycling now".

Another record that was previously been in his mind was the Hour Record, but he admits that this is no longer in mind: "I was, until Ganna did it. I think he (Merkcx, ed.) did it also before Pippo. Before that time I would consider it, now not so much, Ganna was fast he did incredible".

Asked about close encounters with fans, the Slovenian can't help it but to still be tame with his words, but recalls a sketchy moment at the Tour de France: "The fans are amazing. When I was a kid I always wanted that feeling to ride through the group of fans like this, now I enjoy the most. The closest I've been... In Col de la Loze in 2020 there were some close calls with Slovenian fans; but normally you need to watch the flags, the flags are a really tricky one because they are waving in the middle of the road and they move last time (correction: last minute, ed.)..."

"You do sometimes let off the throttle a little bit specially if you attack and you're in the zone, you feel like you're pushing all the watts you can... The adrenaline is so high, the noise is so loud, you're just riding and you don't lose any momentum you just go, it's crazy, it's hard to describe".