Belgian cycling great Roger De Vlaeminck has launched a blistering attack on modern-day stars, claiming Tadej Pogacar is being “heavily overrated” and insisting no one from today’s peloton compares to Eddy Merckx.In a typically fiery interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, the 78-year-old icon dismissed comparisons between Pogacar and Merckx — and did so with the kind of bluntness only De Vlaeminck can deliver. “Nonsense! Pogacar isn’t even fit to lace Merckx’s shoes,” he exclaimed. “If I were 22 today and riding in the peloton with him, he wouldn’t be dropping me.”
The four-time Paris–Roubaix winner remains adamant that Merckx is the ultimate benchmark in cycling, declaring that anyone who questions that “doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Van der Poel can’t time trial, can’t climb, can’t sprint”De Vlaeminck didn’t stop at Pogacar. He also turned his attention to other modern champions, handing out stinging criticism to Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel.
Van der Poel, despite being labelled “a great rider,” was picked apart in classic De Vlaeminck style: “He can’t time trial, he can’t climb, he can’t sprint — there’s not much left after that.”
The comments reflect a familiar paradox in De Vlaeminck’s tone — admiration laced with provocation, a habit that has made him one of the sport’s most outspoken figures for decades.
“Evenepoel? A bit arrogant”
Evenepoel, too, came in for a sharp rebuke. “He’s not my type,” De Vlaeminck said dryly. “He’s a very good rider, a superb time triallist. But I find him a bit arrogant sometimes. Lifting your bike in the air after the finish — is that really necessary? Just cross the line and win.”
De Vlaeminck’s remarks may spark debate, but they also highlight an enduring truth: few figures in Belgian cycling are as unfiltered, fiercely proud, and loyal to the legacy of Merckx as the man once known as Monsieur Paris–Roubaix.