{"id":243672,"date":"2025-11-04T17:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T17:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/243672\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T17:14:08","slug":"tadej-pogacar-is-the-strongest-rider-in-cycling-history-nairo-quintana-admits-even-at-his-peak-hed-be-two-steps-below-slovenian-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/243672\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTadej Pogacar is the strongest rider in cycling history\u201d \u2014 Nairo Quintana admits even at his peak he\u2019d be two steps below Slovenian superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Pogacar<\/a>\u2019s peers are running out of superlatives. And now, three Grand Tour champions \u2014 Nairo Quintana<\/a>, Egan Bernal<\/a> and Vincenzo Nibali<\/a> \u2014 have united in their belief that the Slovenian will continue to dominate cycling in 2026 and beyond.Speaking during the Giro de Rigo event in Colombia, in quotes collected by EFE<\/a>, Quintana delivered the most striking verdict yet on the reigning Tour de France champion\u2019s place in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would not just be one step above us, but two, because he is the man strongest in the entire history of competitive cycling,\u201d Quintana said, adding that Pogacar has \u201cno weaknesses\u201d across terrain, race style or scenario.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The former Giro and Vuelta winner emphasised that even comparing his own prime years to Pogacar\u2019s current level would leave him short.<\/p>\n

Bernal and Nibali echo the sentiment<\/p>\n

Bernal \u2014 himself a Tour and Giro champion \u2014 dismissed suggestions that next year\u2019s Tour de France route has been designed to neutralise the UAE Team Emirates leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday Pogacar is the strongest rider in the world. Whether you put 100 kilometres of time-trials or any other kind of race, he will always be the favourite to win,\u201d Bernal insisted, noting the 27-year-old still has many seasons ahead in which to build an all-time legacy.<\/p>\n

Nibali, one of cycling\u2019s few triple-Grand-Tour champions, went even further in his comparison, placing Pogacar alongside cycling\u2019s most revered icon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 30 years, another incredible rider has emerged. I think that right now, competing with him is very, very difficult,\u201d Nibali said, drawing parallels with Eddy Merckx. In a further show of admiration, the Italian pointed to Pogacar\u2019s astonishing consistency: \u201cWhen he is supposedly having a bad day, he still finishes second or third in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pogacar\u2019s era shows no sign of slowing<\/p>\n

From Monument classics to Grand Tours, Pogacar\u2019s near-total command of the modern peloton has already reshaped the sport. With rivals as decorated as Nibali, Bernal and Quintana conceding the scale of his supremacy, expectation around 2026 \u2014 and the battles to come \u2014 is only accelerating.<\/p>\n

If their assessments prove correct, cycling\u2019s current era may not simply belong to Pogacar \u2014 it could be remembered as the era defined by him.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar\u2019s peers are running out of superlatives. And now, three Grand Tour champions \u2014 Nairo Quintana, Egan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-243672","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\/243672","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=243672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}