Tadej Pogacar has just won his fourth Tour de France and has put himself closer to making history in yet another milestone. He has done so with a dominant performance which could not be closely matched by anyone for a second years in a row. Eddy Merckx believes the Slovenian can outrun his overall win record as there is no true competition at the moment.
Merckx was hard on his words and doesn’t believe that Pogacar was not truly challenged throughout the past three weeks, despite Jonas Vingegaard and Visma’s many attempts to surprise and dethrone the UAE Team Emirates – XRG rider.
“The real excitement during this Tour de France wasn’t there. Jonas Vingegaard wasn’t a competitor; he could only hang on in three weeks,” the former pro shared with De Telegraaf.
Since 2024 the Slovenian’s level has grown even further, and the bad days that led to defeats such as in 2022 and 2023 are no longer happening, and Pogacar is simply riding away with an amount of victories that is ummatched in the peloton. “If there had been more competition, it would have been harder for him to achieve so many victories. But if you ask me if he’ll achieve more than five Tour de France victories, I can only answer: absolutely!”
Pogacar has now won four Tours and is one away from the record that Merckx shares with three other legends of the sport. And he doesn’t see anyone rising to the occasion to beat him at the Grand Boucle. “Remco Evenepoel? No, definitely not. Remco is more of a time-trialist. He’s not strong enough uphill to compete with Pogacar for the Tour de France victory.” Asked about Juan Ayuso, the Belgian legend had the same opinion: “He’s not strong enough in three weeks.”
In fact Merckx only looks at the classics as races where the Slovenian puts his full focus but can be matched, and that the one rider who is capable of doing so is Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman does get immense praise from Merckx, as Pogacar’s one true competitor as this day and age:
“He rode an incredible Tour de France, what an athlete! His dedication is unparalleled, and he often does beautiful and unexpected things. It’s a shame that Mathieu is no longer a Tour de France rider, because he’s the only one who could truly challenge Pogacar.”