Roger De Vlaeminck, one of cycling’s greatest ever classics riders, isn’t the shy, retiring type, especially when it comes to airing his views on what he considers the pampered prima donnas of the sport’s modern era.
But De Vlaeminck’s latest ‘back in my day’ hot takes are something else – even by Mr Paris-Roubaix’s notoriously grumpy standards.
“Pogačar couldn’t lace Merckx’s shoes!” the 78-year-old told Het Laatste Nieuws when confronted with the “crazy” suggestion that the four-time Tour de France winner is now comparable to De Vlaeminck’s great rival.
“Journalists who dare make that comparison don’t know anything about it – just write it down.”
Despite the Belgian legend’s derisive dismissals of the topic, cycling’s GOAT debate has been picking up steam over the last two years, as Tadej Pogačar continues to gobble up bike races at an alarming rate.
The 27-year-old Slovenian is now just one yellow jersey away from drawing level with Eddy Merckx on five Tour de France victories, while another world title will equal the Cannibal’s career haul of three rainbow jerseys.
Pogačar’s latest Il Lombardia triumph also saw him become the third most successful monuments rider of all time, with 10 wins across cycling’s biggest one-day races – though the UAE Team Emirates rider still has a long way to go before he eclipses Merckx’s tally of 19 monuments.
It might only take until next spring, however, before he overhauls De Vlaeminck on the monuments league table.
The rider known as ‘The Gypsy’, the biggest contender to Merckx’s one-day supremacy during the 1970s, managed 11 monuments during his career, including four Paris-Roubaix wins (a record only since matched by Tom Boonen), three Milan-Sanremo titles, two Lombardy victories, one Tour of Flanders, and a Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
But while Pogačar is breathing down in his neck when it comes to their status in cycling’s history books, De Vlaeminck is adamant that the Slovenian wouldn’t get the better of him if they were racing against each other today.
“Let me be 22 today and ride in the peloton with Pogačar, and he won’t drop me,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws.
“Where was it recently, when he rode away from Evenepoel? In Lombardy. On not even a difficult climb. As good as Merckx… Come on, man.”
Tell us what you really think, Roger.
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview – which saw him name 91-year-old Brigitte Bardot as his ideal dinner guest – De Vlaeminck also let rip at two of cycling’s other stars: Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel.
“I like him,” he said of Van der Poel, who is aiming for his own fourth Paris-Roubaix win next April.
“And he’s a great rider. But he can’t time trial, he can’t climb, he can’t sprint… there’s not much left, is there? I won mountain stages, time trials, I could sprint, oh my…”
Zac Williams/SWpix.com
Reminds me of that George Best quote about David Beckham: ‘He can’t kick with his left foot, he can’t head a ball, he can’t tackle, and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that, he’s alright.’
Apart from all that Mathieu, you’re alright.
As for triple world time trial champion Remco?
“He’s not my type. A good cyclist, you know. A superb time trialist,” the 78-year-old said.
“But, I don’t know… I find him a bit arrogant sometimes. To cross the finish line and raise your bike in the air… is that necessary? Just cross the line and win, right? I raised my hand back then.
Zac Williams/SWpix.com
“No, no, we’ll call Eddy Merckx to come and talk to him. I have immense respect for Eddy.”
Finally, De Vlaeminck was asked whether it bothers him that some in the cycling world don’t appreciate his forthright opinions and “sharp tongue”.
“More so before than now. I used to think, ‘Should I have said it like that?’ But then again, that’s who you are, right?
“And if there are people who don’t want to say hello or talk to me anymore… I don’t have to live with them, do I?”