{"id":273714,"date":"2025-11-10T07:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T07:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273714\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T07:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T07:08:10","slug":"de-vlaeminck-downgrades-pogacar-questions-van-der-poel-and-calls-evenepoel-arrogant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273714\/","title":{"rendered":"De Vlaeminck downgrades Pogacar, questions Van der Poel and calls Evenepoel \u201carrogant\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plenty happened in week 45, with the European Cyclo-cross Championships in Middelkerke<\/a> bringing the weekend fireworks. But the loudest bang didn\u2019t come from the Belgian coast\u2014it came from restaurant Mie Katoen in Affligem, where 78-year-old Roger De Vlaeminck let fly in a chat with HLN<\/a>. The \u201ctargets\u201d? Tadej Poga\u010dar, Remco Evenepoel<\/a>, and Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

De Vlaeminck needs no introduction in Belgium\u2014especially on the road. While his late brother Erik De Vlaeminck set the standard in cyclo-cross with seven world titles, Roger himself also claimed a CX rainbow jersey. In 2025, Mathieu van der Poel drew level with Erik in Li\u00e9vin; come early 2026, he could even make it eight.<\/p>\n

On the road, Roger De Vlaeminck was the man in the 1970s: one of the few riders to win all five Monuments, a stage in all three Grand Tours, and silver at the Road Worlds\u2014plus that one CX world title.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"ss<\/p>\n

Roger De Vlaeminck<\/p>\n

De Vlaeminck defends Eddy Merckx\u2019s record<\/p>\n

De Vlaeminck still speaks with pride about his own toolkit: \u201cNature gave me a lot: I could sprint, I could time trial, I could climb well enough\u2026 don\u2019t forget I won tough mountain stages, eh.” There was, however, one giant who overshadowed everyone: Eddy Merckx. De Vlaeminck is keen to remind the sport of that. “Poga\u010dar as good as Merckx? Madness! Poga\u010dar doesn\u2019t even come close to Merckx!”<\/p>\n

“Journalists who dare make that comparison don\u2019t know a thing \u2014 write it down”, he said. Okay, we’ll write that down then, he also said it before<\/a>. Pogacar has a lot of shortcomings compared to Merckx, De Vlaeminck believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake me 22 today and put me in the bunch with Poga\u010dar, and he wouldn\u2019t drop me. Where was it recently \u2014 when he rode away from Evenepoel? At Lombardy. On not even a difficult climb. As good as Merckx\u2026 come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"eddy<\/p>\n

Eddy Merckx<\/p>\n

Van der Poel and Evenepoel also off the favourites list<\/p>\n

Pressed about his \u201csharp tongue\u201d, De Vlaeminck didn\u2019t soften\u2014especially when Mathieu van der Poel came up. \u201cI like him too. And he\u2019s a great rider. But he can\u2019t time trial, he can\u2019t climb, he can\u2019t sprint \u2014 there\u2019s not much left, eh. I won mountain stages, time trials, I could sprint, for heaven\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Remco Evenepoel? The critique kept coming. \u201cHe\u2019s not my type. A good rider, eh. A superb time trialist. But, I don\u2019t know\u2026 I sometimes find him a bit arrogant. To cross the line and then lift your bike in the air\u2026 is that necessary? Just ride over the line and win, eh. Back in my day I\u2019d give a little wave.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plenty happened in week 45, with the European Cyclo-cross Championships in Middelkerke bringing the weekend fireworks. But the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-273714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}