\n\u201cHe can stop tomorrow \u2013 and in my mind, he\u2019s the greatest cyclist that\u2019s ever lived\u201d<\/p>\n
While Merckx amassed an almost mythical number of career victories, Woods suggested that the globalisation of the sport has made modern success far harder to achieve. With the talent pool now drawn from every continent and backed by immense scientific and financial resources, Pogacar\u2019s achievements carry a different kind of weight.<\/p>\n
Having won the Tour de France and the World Championships in the same season twice now, alongside a string of Classics triumphs, the Slovenian has become the defining rider of his era \u2014 and, in Woods\u2019s view, of all eras. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t need to [race into his late 30s]. He can stop tomorrow,\u201d Woods said. \u201cAnd in my mind, he\u2019s the greatest cyclist that\u2019s ever lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian pointed out that even generational stars can lose their hunger once their supremacy becomes routine. \u201cIt becomes not as fun when you have less opposition,\u201d he reflected. \u201cYou even saw it with Peter Sagan. Sagan just got bored. You could tell he was just doing it as a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods looks to new adventures after WorldTour farewell<\/p>\n
While the curtain is closing on his WorldTour career, Woods insisted he has no intention of putting his bike away. The 2023 Tour de France stage winner is already eyeing off a mix of endurance challenges \u2014 from mountain bike epics to triathlon \u2014 once his professional obligations end in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got some big plans,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to do some alternative events \u2013 bucket list items. I just love exercising and love training, love racing\u2026 I want to answer the question of whether I\u2019d be a good triathlete or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on recent turbulence within the Israel – Premier Tech setup, Woods remained diplomatic but optimistic: \u201cIt was a tough time for everybody in the last few months, but I think a lot of positive changes can happen within the team moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he prepares for life after the peloton, Woods leaves behind not only a collection of stage wins and heroic breakaway performances \u2014 but a bold claim that will continue to divide cycling fans for years to come.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHe can stop tomorrow \u2013 and in my mind, he\u2019s the greatest cyclist that\u2019s ever lived\u201d While…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-226123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}