"You've got a little way to go before you start comparing him to the likes of Eddy Merckx" - Robbie McEwen cools talk of Vingegaard being of the all-time greats
Cycling
Successfully defending his Tour de France title over the weekend, Jonas Vingegaard joined an elite group of riders to have taken back-to-back Maillot Jaune's. Although undoubtedly the best Grand Tour rider in the peloton, Robbie McEwen believes it's a bit too soon to compare Vingegaard with legendary riders of the past.
"There's not a lot of riders that do it back-to-back, I mean there are other riders who have won two Tours," said the Australian, former sprint ace on Eurosport. "You've got a little way to go before you start comparing him to the likes of Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Chris Froome… If he can keep this up, he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon. We saw the beginning of the Vingegaard era last year with his win. He had a few moments where we thought maybe Pogacar was getting the better of him but he bounced back every single time. When it came to the crunch, the really big moments, he shone."
For three straight years, Vingegaard has battled it out with Tadej Pogacar for the overall victory at the Tour de France. With the score currently 2-1 in the Jumbo-Visma leader's favour, the Eurosport crew also debated whether or not this rivalry will continue to dominate the race in the coming years.
"There's always someone new coming up," warns Adam Blythe. "Jonas is a Tour de France rider. I'm not going to say it's the only race he's good at, but he has one target through the year. Every little bit of detail throughout the year will be towards the Tour de France. You look at Tadej Pogacar, he's like jack of all trades – attacking on the Champs-Elysees, wanting to win Flanders, Liege, Amstel…"
"If you go through that process and get into the third week, the hardest week of the Tour de France where everyone starts to break, it's always where Jonas steps up and comes to his strongest," Blythe concludes. "For UAE and Pogacar, taking the Classics away from him next year would be the hardest thing."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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