{"id":43584,"date":"2025-08-04T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43584\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T19:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T19:56:09","slug":"tadej-pogacar-vs-eddy-merckx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43584\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar vs Eddy Merckx"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Put simply: even Pogacar can go no further. And because he can\u2019t, he won\u2019t ride the Vuelta. It\u2019s one thing to peak for Il Lombardia in October \u2014 a race where he currently has no serious rival (although organisers might do well to toughen the course) \u2014 but it\u2019s quite another to prepare the body and mind for a third Grand Tour in a single season. The demands are different. The toll is greater.<\/p>\n

While last year Pogacar conquered both the Giro and the Tour, this time the Tour alone has left him visibly depleted. Van Aert\u2019s dismantling of him on Montmartre and the fact he failed to win a single stage in the final week tell the full story. His decision to rest is not just sensible \u2014 it\u2019s necessary. He\u2019s earned it. But here\u2019s the rub: Pogacar\u2019s opponent is no longer the peloton. It\u2019s history itself.<\/p>\n

He has said, publicly, that he doesn\u2019t see himself racing in 2029. If that\u2019s the case \u2014 and if he\u2019s already sitting out the Vuelta two years in a row \u2014 then how realistic is it to believe he\u2019ll surpass Eddy Merckx<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s compare them, side by side.<\/p>\n

\"TadejPogacar<\/p>\n

Pogacar won his 4th Maillot Jaune in 2025<\/p>\n

Category
\n Eddy Merckx
\n Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/p>\n

World Championships
\n 4
\n 1<\/p>\n

Giro d\u2019Italia Titles
\n 5
\n 1<\/p>\n

Tour de France Titles
\n 5
\n 4<\/p>\n

Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a Titles
\n 1
\n 0<\/p>\n

Total Grand Tours Won
\n 11
\n 5<\/p>\n

Jerseys & Awards in GTs
\n 21
\n 9<\/p>\n

Cycling Monuments Won
\n 19
\n 9<\/p>\n

Classics Won
\n 10
\n 8<\/p>\n

One-Week Stage Races
\n 7
\n 8<\/p>\n

National Championships
\n 1
\n 4<\/p>\n

Total Major Titles
\n 73
\n 49<\/p>\n

Grand Tour Stage Wins
\n 64
\n 30<\/p>\n

The Legend: Eddy Merckx<\/p>\n

Eddy Merckx didn\u2019t just dominate cycling \u2014 he devoured it. Nicknamed The Cannibal, Merckx raced and won everything. He took four World Championship titles and won all three Grand Tours, including five Tours de France, five Giros d\u2019Italia, and a single Vuelta a Espana. His 11 Grand Tour victories remain unmatched.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just about overall wins. Merckx amassed 21 jerseys and awards within Grand Tours, and an astonishing 64 stage victories. He claimed all five Monuments multiple times, with seven Milan\u2013San Remo wins and five Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge titles among his 19 Monument trophies.<\/p>\n

His versatility extended to one-week stage races \u2014 from Paris\u2013Nice to the Dauphin\u00e9 \u2014 and even in the spring and autumn classics, he remained a constant threat. Merckx’s reign stretched across surfaces, seasons, and styles. His only \u201cweaknesses\u201d? A relatively modest one national title \u2014 not that he needed it, and lingering allegations of doping.<\/p>\n

The Prodigy: Tadej Pogacar<\/p>\n

Pogacar\u2019s greatness is not in doubt. But to match Merckx, he needs more than brilliance \u2014 he needs relentlessness. He needs to push through exhaustion, expand his calendar, and keep winning across disciplines, surfaces, and styles. That\u2019s what Merckx did. That\u2019s what made him more than a champion \u2014 it made him an almost mythical figure in the sport’s history.<\/p>\n

If Pogacar is serious about surpassing Merckx, he can\u2019t afford to skip the Vuelta again. He may not need the treble, but he\u2019ll need a second Giro, at least one Vuelta, and more Monument wins. He may even need to race later into his career than he currently anticipates.<\/p>\n

His body is not infinite. Time is not on his side. But the opportunity still is \u2014 just. For now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Put simply: even Pogacar can go no further. And because he can\u2019t, he won\u2019t ride the Vuelta.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-43584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}