Fine Young Cannibal: Is it time to admit that Tadej Pogačar is the greatest cyclist of the last 50 years (or maybe ever)? “Not normal” world champion’s 100km “stupid attack” + more on the live blog

Halfway through the final lap of Sunday’s men’s world road race championships in Zurich, Eurosport commentator Rob Hatch summed up the Pogačar paradox with one pithy remark: “He may be dominant, but he’s never boring”.

Hatch uttered those comments just as thousands of race reports that had been crafted over the previous two hours, in a desperate bid to capture and distil the hitherto unimaginable, suddenly looked in danger of being torn up, replaced by an Icarian fable of excess and overindulgence.

On the final ascents of Zurich’s jagged, punchy course, Tadej Pogačar – after 100km of suggesting otherwise – suddenly looked human.

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The time gap, which had remained remarkably steady throughout his outrageous, audacious century, suddenly began to wilt, a combination of Pogačar’s own fading prowess (possibly the result of a missed bottle or, you know, the creeping physical effects of a 100km attack at a world championships) and the chase bursting into life behind, spearheaded by the brilliant Toms Skujiņš and Ben Healy.

But, as has been the case throughout 2024, all of a sudden, things tipped back into Pogačar’s favour – the road tipped downwards, the chase stalled, and the Slovenian, his face distorted from its usual boyish nonchalance to one twisted in agony, was the world champion.

Dominant, but never boring. Inevitable, but thrilling.

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

With a crack at a fourth Lombardy win still to come, Pogačar’s rainbow jersey triumph capped one of the most remarkable and dominant seasons cycling has ever seen.

23 wins (in just 55 race days). Strade Bianche. Four wins and the overall at the Volta a Catalunya. Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Six stage wins and the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia. Six stages and a third GC win at the Tour de France. The GP de Montréal. And now the world championships.

But, as has always been the case with Tadej Pogačar, and even more so yesterday, the stats page doesn’t do his superiority justice – it’s the manner in which he wins, or more to the point, annihilates his opponents.

And... away (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

We saw it at Strade Bianche (arguably the prototype for his Zurich zenith), we saw it at the Giro and the Tour, and we saw it again, with over 100km still remaining on Sunday – at first a speculative, exploratory acceleration that soon morphed, as Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel were caught napping, into a daring all-out, do or die assault.

Even the man he sought to emulate by winning the Giro-Tour-Worlds ‘Triple Crown’, Eddy Merckx, would have blushed at the thought of launching with 100km to go, bridging across to the break, and going solo with 51km left, as the finest bike racers of his generation (and in the case of Van der Poel and Evenepoel, possibly any generation) scurry behind.

(Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)

Which is why, on a late September Sunday in Switzerland, Tadej Pogačar confirmed what we have all suspected for years.

The half-century long search for the Next Merckx is over. Now, at the age of 26 and with plenty of objectives still left to conquer, a new question has emerged: Can Pogačar become the greatest male cyclist of all time?

Or, with pink, yellow, and rainbow jerseys safely tucked away in his wardrobe, is he already there?

Well there you have it, stop the count – Eddy Merckx has already admitted defeat in cycling’s never-ending Greatest of All Time debate (though I’ll keep our live blog poll running anyway).

Speaking to L’Équipe on Sunday night, after Tadej Pogačar’s barnstorming rainbow jersey-winning ride in Zurich, the Cannibal reckons the Slovenian has already surpassed his historic, race-destroying exploits.

“It’s obvious that he is now above me,” Merckx said of his now fellow Triple Crown winner in an interview with the French newspaper.

“Deep down, I already thought as much when I saw what he did on the last Tour de France, but tonight there’s no more doubt about it.

“Obviously, you can never compare eras, but this is an incredible rider. I didn’t attack with 100 kilometres to go in a world championship, but what he has done is unimaginable. It’s something we’ll remember for a very long time.

“He took a lot of risks against [Mathieu] van der Poel and [Remco] Evenepoel, but that didn’t scare him. That’s when you realise that Pogačar is an immense champion. He’s out of the ordinary.”

(Chris Auld/SWpix.com)

It would certainly have been unimaginable back in 2019, when Pogačar burst onto the scene as a 20-year-old neo-pro with victory at the Tour of California and three stages and a podium at the Vuelta, but as cycling writer Daniel Friebe noted this morning, the Slovenian’s palmares at the age of 26 is already broadly similar to the man long renowned as the greatest of all time:

Of course, as Merckx himself noted, comparisons can be tricky across eras, with different approaches to racing and attitudes towards certain races shifting, but the fact that Pogačar’s record – three Tours de France, a Giro d’Italia, three Tours of Lombardy, two editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a Tour of Flanders, two Strade Bianches, and a world championships (and many more besides) – can even be compared to the Belgian legend at the same age is staggering in itself.

Pogačar may well have a decent way to go to eclipse Merckx’s mark of 11 grand tours, three rainbow jerseys, and 19 monuments (with a complete set of grand tours and monuments to boot). But at this rate, would you really bet against him?

Yes, Tadej Pogačar’s 100km winning attack was all well and good, but the big story that broke the cycling internet during yesterday’s world road race championships involved Michael Woods, a Tupperware box, and a wooden spoon.

The sight of the Canadian tucking away into what at first appeared to be a late breakfast, or maybe even a nice hipster brunch, during the early stages of the 273km race, like an office worker dashing off the train, was a new one for many cycling fans, and conjured images of former world champion Paulo Bettini working his way through a tray sandwiches just like mama used to make, while taking it easy at the back the peloton.

"I've never seen this before!" 😂

An unconventional mid-race snack option for Michael Woods! 🍚 #Zurich2024 pic.twitter.com/hkBgISR1X9

— Eurosport (@eurosport) September 29, 2024

However, you may be disappointed to learn that despite his rather quaint, old-school method of eating on the go, Woods was actually eating Maurten Bicarb, a bicarbonate gel which apparently helps counteract the negative effects of lactic acid accumulation – but only works for around five hours, hence the Canadian’s late breakfast.

“It was just some Maurten bicarb, it’s really effective,” Woods told Flobikes after the race, where he finished 54th, over 12 minutes down on Pogačar.

“I like using it, but the problem is it only lasts five hours, so I had to have it about an hour into the race.”

Reflecting on his performance, the 37-year-old said: “It was a super hard day. No words really, it was just a hard day. I made some attacks but then got on the back foot when things were moving around. I missed the opportunity to play for the medals. It is what it is.”

Perhaps next time a nice Meal Deal would do the trick?

Tadej Pogačar may have fired a few warning shots in the past when it comes to his capacity for long-range attacks – Strade Bianche, anyone? – but his audacious rainbow jersey-winning move still caught everyone on the hop, judging by his rivals’ post-worlds comments.

“I’m pretty sure if you ask him, this wasn’t his plan either but he was really strong and he proved us all wrong,” Mathieu van der Poel, who staged a spirited defence of his world title to finish third, said.

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“I thought that he was throwing away his chances for a world championship jersey because the situation was not ideal and his team was not able to take control, so it was more of a panic attack. But he was just so strong he could make it work until the end.”

Meanwhile, fifth-placed Remco Evenepoel, a touch below his very best despite winning the world time trial championships the weekend before and being expected to challenge the Slovenian on the hilly Zurich course, was even more forthright in his assessment of Pogačar’s 100km move, describing it as a “suicide attack”.

“Tadej was on a special day. In some races you would say this was easily controlled, but the moment he went I was saying to Mathieu that it was a suicide move and that everything was going to come back together.

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“In the end, he rode as fast as we did at the back,” the Belgian said, before evoking the kind of language historically used during the Lance Armstrong era to describe extraterrestrial performances – Pas Normal.

“It was a very long way to go,” Evenepoel added. “Every normal guy would say 100km to go is way too far, but I think Tadej this year is not normal.”

“I think it was a pretty tough moment in the race with 100km left to go, everyone was thinking it’s too much to do,” said Ben Healy, who along with Toms Skujiņš arguably deserved a medal for an attacking, determined ride, but was forced to settle for seventh.

“He went, and I don’t think anyone expected it. Then it was the whole Belgian team chasing them down, so I think with 100km left everyone thought it was a bit much, even for Tadej. He proved us wrong again.”

(Chris Auld/SWpix.com)

However, ninth-placed Quinn Simmons wasn’t buying into the whole surprise element of Pogačar’s attack.

“If anyone is surprised that Pogačar won this race then I don’t think they follow cycling,” the moustachioed Simmons told reporters.

“I did 7,000 kilojoules today, so you tell me if the race was difficult. My teammate Matteo [Jorgenson] told me before the race that he tried to follow Pogačar once and said that ‘when you go too close to the sun you get burnt, and today I got burnt.’”

“Every single time you turn up to the race there's someone better than everyone else, that is part and parcel of the sport. It’s the same in tennis as well. You do your best,” added surprise silver medallist Ben O’Connor, who’s enjoyed a very successful end to 2024 after finishing second at the Vuelta.

Away from the race, other pros took to social media to express their astonishment at the Slovenian’s possibly era-defining ride.

While Matteo Trentin described Pog’s solo destruction as “absolutely mind blowing”, his compatriot Elia Viviani resorted to emojis:

Tadej 🤯

— Elia Viviani (@eliaviviani) September 29, 2024

And finally, Van der Poel reckons, even after all we’ve experienced this year at the hands of the 26-year-old, that this could be just the beginning.

“I have no idea how long the ‘Pogačar era’ will last, he’s stronger than ever, this is just the beginning,” the Dutchman said.

“He is a deserved world champion. If you see his season, he’s the one who deserves to wear it. It's going to be good to watch. After the race, I told him he was crazy. But everyone is happy with him as a world champion and for me, it’s nice for the best rider in the world to wear the jersey.”

I know it’s not quite a world championships won by a crazy long-range move, but still, it’s interesting nonetheless:

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