The Big Question: Will Tadej Pogacar become cycling’s G.O.A.T?

After a season spent demolishing and demoralising his rivals, Tadej Pogacar has the cycling world pondering about his place in the peloton of greats.

In 2025, the Slovenian became the first male rider to triumph at both the Tour de France and the Road World Championships’ road race in successive years.

It came amid a 20-win campaign in which he claimed 40 per cent of his races.

Aside from dominating the field at the Tour de France for the fourth time, the 27-year-old Pogacar also signalled his prowess in single-day events.

He joined the legendary Belgian Eddy Merckx as just the second rider to win three Monuments in a season after finishing first at the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia.

Said Pogacar: “It was a perfect season this year, but we’ll see if we can improve next year. We want the next one to be the same or even better, if possible.”

Head of performance at the Slovenian’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG outfit Jeroen Swart told L’Equipe: “It only happens once in a generation. It’s like working with Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.”

Jonathan Milan, the 2025 Tour de France sprinters’ green jersey winner, who is here for the Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium on Nov 2, told The Sunday Times Pogacar is “making history”, adding “he’s one of the best, if not the best of all time”.

Jasper Philipsen, a fellow former green jersey holder, added: “It’s crazy, I’ve never seen a guy as talented as him, he’s dominating cycling... You see a lot of guys, they have a good year, but next year maybe a bit less but, for him, it’s just growing and growing.”

His achievements have led Mark Cavendish, retired record 35-time Tour de France stage winner, who is here as an ambassador for the Singapore event, to quip: “Good luck lads for the next couple of years!”

Pogacar’s 2025 successes come on the back of a historic 2024, when he became just the third man after Merckx and Stephen Roche to win cycling’s Triple Crown in the same year, after triumphing at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and world championships.

Former cyclist turned analyst Thijs Zonneveld said on his In de Waaier podcast: “Maybe cycling has a problem. He wins in Grand Tours, Classics, world championships and now also the European (championships).”

Cycling has traditionally been segregated into specialists in various disciplines, with climbers prevailing in gruelling mountain stages while sprinters are best on flat surfaces. But Pogacar’s multi-faceted skills set means he is a threat across terrains and events.

Zonneveld said: “He’s not the best at any one thing, but he’s in the top three in everything... His consistency, his ability to regulate and his tactical mastery are a sign that he has redefined the threshold of high performance in this sport.”

Killing his rivals

French rider Alex Baudin admitted to DicoduSport that “in the peloton, many are starting to get fed up with getting crushed”.

Norway’s Johannes Kulset told Domestique: “When he starts, you know it’s not going to be a race, it’s just survival... When he’s on the start line, you don’t believe in victory.”

So what makes Pogacar great?

Since 2021, the Slovenian has been the UCI’s (International Cycling Union’s) top-ranked rider every season, with an average of 14 race wins per year, according to Cycling Weekly.

Science behind the success

Physically, that consistency is the product of quick recovery after training and competition, high threshold power and indefatigable fatigue resistance.

Renowned coach Paul van den Bosch explained to Sporza: “Pogacar can complete almost every training session at a high intensity. Other riders do this in blocks, taking it easy on certain days. That makes him a phenomenon: the combination of hardly ever getting tired, recovering very quickly after races and training sessions, and still being able to train very hard.”

Pogacar’s former coach Inigo San Millan, told the El Partidazo podcast: “He has a great capacity, very important metabolic efficiency. When the rest of the riders go at 8,000 revolutions per minute, he keeps going at 3,000. So he has two, three, four gears more than the average.”

This manifests in his long-distance attacks, which double Olympic gold medallist and three-time reigning time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel has compared to “a ticking time bomb”.

Describing what it is like trying to respond to a Pogacar attack after Stage 2 of the 2024 Giro d’Italia, Ben O’Connor, who has won stages at all three Grand Tours and gold at the world championships, said: “I always wanted to try and follow Pog, but I was the dumbest guy in the race.”

One of the few riders who have actually managed to keep up with Pogacar is two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, the only person who has denied him at cycling’s most storied race and calls him the sport’s greatest-ever exponent.

The G.O.A.T debate

That honour has long been bestowed on Merckx, who has the most number of Grand Tour wins (11) and is by far the most successful Monument rider with 19 titles.

Another cycling legend Bernard Hinault sees the similarities between the pair, telling AFP: “Pogacar, when he sees that he has the chance to pull the trigger, he pulls the trigger – a bit like Eddy (Merckx).”

The Frenchman, who has the joint-most Tour de France victories – alongside Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain – believes Pogacar can surpass their tally of five, calling him “a complete rider”.

Former Tour de France winner and five-gold Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins, meanwhile, insists that Pogacar needs more time to challenge Merckx’s status.

He said on TheMove podcast: “He’s heading that way. Give him five more years of winning at this level, with this kind of dominance – and he’ll be close to someone like Eddy Merckx.

“He still needs to win the Tour a few more times, and take the Vuelta and Giro as well.”

Pogacar has yet to win the Vuelta a Espana to complete the full set of Grand Tours, with his sole attempt in 2019, when he finished third.

With five multi-week Grand Tour titles, he still has some way to go to match Merckx’s 11.

He also needs to win Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix to complete his collection of Monuments, with Merckx leading the overall title count 19 to 10.

Additionally, Merckx, who was nicknamed “the Cannibal”, held the World Hour Record for 12 years and won European track cycling titles in the Madison and Omnium disciplines in the 1970s.

What the Cannibal says

In 2024, Merckx conceded that it is “unimaginable” for him to have “attacked with 100km to go in a world championship” like the Slovenian did.

But he later pointed to their Grand Tour records, noting: “I don’t believe Tadej is superior to me... he still has a long way to go to be the best.”

After the 2025 Tour de France, Merckx told De Telegraaf that Pogacar could “absolutely” surpass his number of wins, but added: “Pogacar has less competition than I had in my time. If there was more, it would be harder for him to win so much.”

French riders Steve Chainel and Nicolas Fritsch, who rode in the 2000s, seem to agree.

Fritsch told Eurosport: “Vingegaard is clearly below Pogacar now. He’s reached his ceiling...

“Maybe he can still win a Grand Tour if Pogacar isn’t there – but only then.”

Pogacar, meanwhile, has played down the comparisons with Merckx, saying after his record-equalling fifth consecutive Il Lombardia in October: “I don’t like this kind of comparison... nobody likes to be compared with somebody else all the time.”