There is currently only one professional rider in the peloton who holds more than 100 professional victories: This is Mark Cavendish, who is retiring now with an incredible 165 triumphs in the bag including a World Championships title, Milano-Sanremo and 35 Tour de France stage wins. In 2025, five riders may go above 100.
Arnaud Démare - 97
Arnaud Démare will, in January, become THE rider in the peloton with most pro wins on the road. 97, to be exact, the Frenchman had hoped to reach 100 in 2024 as he signed with Arkéa - B&B Hotels and looked away from his previous goals of large focus in the Grand Tours. Past his prime, the former Milano-Sanremo, Tour de France and Giro d'Italia stage winner focuses on smaller races but also on UCI points that are crucial for the French team who is fighting for survival at World Tour level.
In late 2023 after signing with the team he won two races, in 2024 he also won two races. He only needs to win three in 2025 to reach 100 which would seal the deal on a career-long goal. The years weight heavy on Démare who came up in a peloton where few sprinters had his ability to ride the hilly terrain and the classics, but currently he faces a much bigger challenge to win race as a younger generation surges and specialize in what used to be his terrain.
Alexander Kristoff - 96
Kristoff, 37 years of age, is in almost the exact same position as the Frenchman. Now currently he holds 96 pro wins which makes it very viable that he will reach the magic number this upcoming year where he leads Uno-X Mobility's sprinting ambitions. A former Tour de France, Milano-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders winner, he also faces the issue that in the current peloton almost every sprinter can handle the rough terrain, not just sprint at the end of a flat race. Hence Kristoff's advantage over rivals has faded, whilst the sheer amount of sprinters makes his task harder.
In his advantage is an Uno-X that has a brilliant leadout with the likes of Soren Waerenskjold and Jonas Abrahamsen in the helm, which has allowed him to win eight times this eyar. This includes victories in Belgian classics, Arctic Race of Norway and Cro Race. The Norwegian team is also wanting to reach World Tour status, despite being a statistically difficult task, so it is certain that it will deploy the veteran in the small one-day races throughout the year as a tactic to score UCI points. Kristoff has very high chances of succeeding, perhaps more than Arnaud Démare.
Elia Viviani - 89
The Italian is the most complicated case on this list, but will be the third rider closest to the 100. Elia Viviani was a prolific sprinter throughout the 2010's, specially his years with the Quick-Step team. Ever since, a few rough years with Cofidis and INEOS Grenadiers, which have led to his contract not being renewed this winter. At the time being, the 35-year old still does not have a contract for next season, but he has talked about wanting to race the Giro d'Italia - whilst his ability and success on the track makes it extremely unlikely that he will retire.
At World Tour level, it is completely unviable that he would reach this number, but in order to continue his career we could very well see the veteran sign a deal with an Italian ProTeam such as Polti Kometa or Bardiani who can still help him race the Giro whilst maintaining a road calendar to support his bigger track ambitions. This could be a team such as Israel - Premier Tech, Tudor Pro Cycling Team or Lotto Dstny as well, who could benefit from his presence whilst he could focus on smaller races where he can get back to his winning ways.
Tadej Pogacar - 88
The Slovenian is the rider on this list who is realistically more likely to reach the 100 victories, also the fastest. Even though he still finds himself relatively far away from the top of the charts, the 12 victories that he has left to reach 100 is merely the number of stage wins he took in Grand Tours this year. Pogacar has won no less than 25 races this year, over half the required number needed to reach this.
The UAE Team Emirates rider will likely start the season at the UAE Tour where at least one or two victories should be obtainable. A counter-point is that he will race Milano-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders, but we don't know yet if any other stage-race during the spring... So he may very well have to wait until the Tour de France or later in the year to reach this number - if he has the same legs as this year and can benefit from lack of injuries and illnesses.
Primoz Roglic - 88
Roglic is just walking in the line, but this number is possible. Roglic has 88 pro wins and has won 8 races this year, but there are some factors to add. Every single win was in World Tour races, half were in a Grand Tour and this number includes wins on two overall classifications - Vuelta a España and Criterium du Dauphiné. In 2023 he won 15 races and the Slovenian showed himself just as strong this year.
In order to reach this number it will require a smart calendar however, including some smaller races but also avoiding the big events where Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are present. He has hinted that he may do this in 2025, but we also know that the Tour de France dream has not faded and he could very well aim as high as the stars.
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