22/04/2023

"There are now statistics that only Merckx and Pogacar can present" - Johan Bruyneel

Tadej Pogacar is on the top of the cycling world currently and is often compared to the big names in cycling. One of them being Eddy Merckx, to which now Johan Bruyneel has drawn comparisons taking into consideration his recent achievements.

"We are looking at one of the best riders ever. The strange thing is that we don't realize that at the moment. You don't find that out until ten or twenty years later when it hasn't happened for a while," Bruyneel said in his podcast The Move. "It is very special that Pogacar is able to win all these spring races."

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A two-time Tour de France winner, Pogacar has since his debut in the Grand Boucle reached the very top. Ever since he's conquered multiple high-level stage races, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia and others but this year he's finally made a transition into a proven winner in the spring classics. After challenging for the win at Milano-Sanremo and E3 Saxo Classic, he won the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race with striking solo moves, and most recently Fléche Wallone. This after winning the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, Vuelta a Andalucia and Paris-Nice earlier in the year.

“That hasn't happened in the past, at least not since I've been following cycling," Bruyneel continued. "I always heard that no one would come near Merckx again. The fact is that Pogacar will never be comparable to Merckx, because eras are always different. In today's world, a rider cannot become world champion four times and win the Tour de France five times."

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Pogacar already carries 12 wins to his palmarès this year and is the main favourite for this weekend's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. At only 24 years of age he reaches a level very few have in history and so it is comprehensible to also wonder how high he will reach and how much is still left for him to achieve throughout a career that has only start a few years ago.

"Yet there are now statistics that only Merckx and Pogacar can present. They are the only ones who have won the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race and the Tour de France. I wouldn't be surprised if Pogacar also wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour and the Giro di Lombardia. It's certainly a possibility," he concluded.