{"id":251432,"date":"2025-11-08T14:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/251432\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T14:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:58:07","slug":"tadej-pogacar-isnt-fit-to-lace-eddy-merckxs-shoes-if-i-were-in-the-peloton-he-wouldnt-be-dropping-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/251432\/","title":{"rendered":"“Tadej Pogacar isn\u2019t fit to lace Eddy Merckx\u2019s shoes! If I were in the peloton he wouldn\u2019t be dropping me\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belgian cycling great Roger De Vlaeminck<\/a> has launched a blistering attack on modern-day stars, claiming Tadej Pogacar<\/a> is being \u201cheavily overrated\u201d and insisting no one from today\u2019s peloton compares to Eddy Merckx<\/a>.In a typically fiery interview with Het Laatste Nieuws<\/a>, the 78-year-old icon dismissed comparisons between Pogacar and Merckx \u2014 and did so with the kind of bluntness only De Vlaeminck can deliver. \u201cNonsense! Pogacar isn\u2019t even fit to lace Merckx\u2019s shoes,\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIf I were 22 today and riding in the peloton with him, he wouldn\u2019t be dropping me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-time Paris\u2013Roubaix winner remains adamant that Merckx is the ultimate benchmark in cycling, declaring that anyone who questions that \u201cdoesn\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cVan der Poel can\u2019t time trial, can\u2019t climb, can\u2019t sprint\u201dDe Vlaeminck didn\u2019t stop at Pogacar. He also turned his attention to other modern champions, handing out stinging criticism to Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> and Remco Evenepoel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel, despite being labelled \u201ca great rider,\u201d was picked apart in classic De Vlaeminck style: \u201cHe can\u2019t time trial, he can\u2019t climb, he can\u2019t sprint \u2014 there\u2019s not much left after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments reflect a familiar paradox in De Vlaeminck\u2019s tone \u2014 admiration laced with provocation, a habit that has made him one of the sport\u2019s most outspoken figures for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvenepoel? A bit arrogant\u201d<\/p>\n

Evenepoel, too, came in for a sharp rebuke. \u201cHe\u2019s not my type,\u201d De Vlaeminck said dryly. \u201cHe\u2019s 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 \u2014 is that really necessary? Just cross the line and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Vlaeminck\u2019s 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\u2013Roubaix.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian cycling great Roger De Vlaeminck has launched a blistering attack on modern-day stars, claiming Tadej Pogacar is…\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-251432","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\/251432","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=251432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251432\/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=251432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}