It’s hard to love cycling and criticize Merxkx. But he cheated a lot. If I was Pogi I’d be very uncomfortable with the comparison to him. In fact, it’s basically impossible to find any rider who was clean who had been this dominant. Infer from that what you like.

It is still too early to compare them. And even when Pogacar is older the comparsion will be hard because the sport has changed so much. Anyway he is just amazing and a joy to watch

Tadej Pogacar is clearly a second edition of The Cannibal. It just remains to be seen if Tadej’s reign will be as long and as enduring as that of Merckx

As Slovenian cycling fan I follow Pogačar from 2017 on and I remember how he was winning in his first season, like Vuelta 2019 where he was beating the best cyclist in the world Roglič on mountains and I was shocked by his last mountain stage attack, he won it by 1min 32s. It was a shocker, I was speechless, to make that in first professional season is unseen! I realistically expect what happened then in TdF time trial 2020. Commentaries may respond that was cheating, doping, but I pretty much expected it according to what happened in 2019. Even more, when that natural phenomenon was exposed in 2020 and Visma terribly lost I fortold cycling would be badly changed from that moment on- cause money dependant and hungry for wins teams will answer to that einstein of cycling in the way we all know. And I was excatly right. I dont claim that Pogačar is different, I dont claim he is clean, on the contrary, dominos have fallen and everyone was forced to answer how to cope with Jonas. But they dont find an answer. Just be aware, if you take time trial advantage of Jonas on Tour 2023 (2min 50s in only 22km) to all rivals (except Pogi) and you convert that advantage to 62 km cyclist used to ride in 90ies, you get 8 minutes advantage to them. If you do the same with Pogi time trial TdF 2020 La Plance des belles filles (36km and 1min and 21s to 2 rivals) and convert it to 62 km you get 2min 20s advantage. Do you see the difference between 8 min and 2min 20s? That was the advantage to first followers/ bunch of best others. You dont believe it, you calculate it yourself!!! I just know how irrational answers i can get, so please please, those few ones who understand what i keep saying you just have empaty how they tried to destroyed this unique talent. Thanks God, Tadej is easy minded, and he doesnt bother too much if he will always lose Tour by 10 minutes to Jonas. Tadej should have 4 Tours at just 24 years. No, Tadej is not Eddy, but he resembles him to you, Cyclingdanes, because you are smart to understand that! To others he is not, as he is way worse than Jonas in TdF. History is written by winners and after some time nobody will care what means they use to make diffenerce today.

You forgot that Eddie raced against Pou Pou too

These comparisons are interesting, but not realistic. I started following racing during the 80's, and a lot has changed since then. It's not a completely different sport, but the demands on racers are different. During the 80's and before, pro racers proudly talked about competing in over 110 race days a year, and most of those races were for training where racers had no intention of actually trying to win. Modern racers might do 70, and take the races they compete in much more seriously. Comparing overall win to loss ratios isn't necessary an equivalent measurement from era to era. There was a bigger push by sponsors simply to have a racer make an, "appearance," during previous eras. As I understand it, when Jacques Anquetil won his fifth Tour of France he had no intention of winning at the beginning of the race, and was focused on winning a different grand tour (the Giro I think) that year as he had already won enough Tours. He was racing the Tour to support a teammate and to train. His teammate could not win (he crashed or got sick), so they asked him to win it. Anquetil agreed and won the race. When Pogicar shows up to a race, he's there to win, not to train or to meet appearance obligations. I mean no disrespect to racers from either era. Things are just different. Comparisons are fun, but difficult to qualify.

No need to compare, just enjoy the racing

With total wins you can't compare them. Merckx rode on average 100 races a year and pogacar 50. So pogacar wins ratio is nearly the same. And in grand tours these era there is often a attacker who wins a mountain stage, and in the time of Merckx it was more like who is the best, wins the stage, so 34 stages in the Tour for pogacar is impossible to achieve.

Excellent video Scott!! Very informative and spot on in your analysis!

Congrats on 40k subs, Scott! 🎉

Pog is literally a once in a lifetime cyclist. Its super rare you get a guy who is a GC beast and also a one day specialist. He reminds me a complete and more consist version of Primoz Roglic. I think one thing Roglic has over Pog is his mental toughness. I’ve seen Pog crack much harder than Rog and I’ve also seen him lose his cool. Just makes you wonder how good Roglic could have been if he started cycling as a kid. One thing that I’ve noticed with Pog is that when he trains and focuses on the spring clsssics, it tends to effect him at the Grand Tours and usually his first GT of the year is The Tour. Taking part in the Giro might make him even more susceptible to cracking. You can’t train for one day races and stage races at the same time. It’s very hard to be super competitive at the monuments and the GT’s in the same year.

What again was the scary truth everyone has forgotten? I must have missed it.

They are different riders but the one thing they both do- once they get a lead their rivals shut down.

What’s the song playing in the background?

Interesting video! I don't know if there is an all time cycling classification using a method similar to the elo ranking in chess (Idk if it's even possible to achieve), but I think than the best way to compare them could be the relative strengh of their opponents Merckx faced De Vleaminck, Gimondi, Poulidor, Martens, Van Impe, Pingeon, Thevenet,... All in their prime, and they can be all considered as being part of the top 25 all time

Love the content pal

How may I reach out you?

Sean king Kelly Raced all year , won TTs Sprints Classics stage races a grand tour . ☘️☘️☘️✌️☘️☘️

Great video! Thanks a lot

I think one of the differences I see is Tadej seems to always be having a good time racing for the pure exceleration of racing. I thought after Chris Froom going down it would be a long time before I would see his equal come along. Boy was I wrong. Watching Tadej race makes an old man happy.

Amazing riders. Merckx was before my time. Very exciting to be able to follow the path of Tadej's successes. With the current state of cycling's science and technology it's hard to say it's an exact apples to apples comparison, but Merckx achieved his success without those benefits. That said, their passion to compete and win are very similar

The words that describe anyone that believes that Pogi is clean - naive & incompetent

Can it be that the comparisons to Eddy Merckx that "everyone has forgotten" (despite the fact that everybody keeps making them) reveal a "scary truth" (and a chilling one at that) because that's the only way to trick somebody into wasting 10 minutes of their life only to hear for a millionth time that these two are compared because they have been winning a lot?

It’s going to take him a few years to reach the legendary level of prime Chris Froome never mind Eddie

Pog is doing some really great racing, but, I think this point/comparison is only really justified to compare when Pog has retired, then his victories can be measured against Merckx's . As already said, the sport has just changed but theres always a dominance in every generation, some just greater than others

Have to get past Hinault before getting to Merckx.

He'd have won two more TDFs i he could find somebody to teach him how to stage race. Al he does is try to win every stage, every day. All any team has to do is sign two riders who can challenge for podium, and then make him chase after alternating breaks. One of them will win the final yellow, and his "helper" will ride around and exhausted Pog with a day or three left to take second overall.

No mention of Vingegaard really? I like Pogacar, he seems like a nice guy and he’s a great cyclist but to be compared to Merckx he needs to win with Vingegaard on TdF first. Something he was not able to achieve yet.

No need to compare.. Cycling has been so dirty since early 1990!!! Each time there is a new prodigy BANG!!!

You can't compare Merckx era racers and today's racers. The 1969 TdF was 20% longer than the 2023 race and the longest stage was 62% longer than the longest in 2023. The Merckx era demanded racing MUCH more often. It is hardly even the same sport.

Too bad Jonas more than likely, won’t be 100% at the TDF. It would be great to see he and Tadej battle each other again, while both are on good form.

Pogi does it against more stronger riders, will be hard. MVP eating monuments.

Yes with today's technology, it's possible. Let's see what these cyclists can do with Eddy Merckx's old technology. Eddy Merckx will be always a Legend .

6:41 "We might see Pogacar win the Giro d'Italia in 2024", yes and the sun may rise tomorrow...

Too bad Merckx wasn’t allowed to try and get an Olympic medal!

I Think Tadej can win MSR, but his Team has to make a huuuuge effort to distance al sprinters early enough

Pogacar is a ALMOST the best rider that has ever ridden but Merckx was still something Else!

It's a pity that those images of his victories early on in his career will be tainted thanks to those ridiculous mask mandates.

I was racing juniors in CA when Eddy was winning everything. All the boys in my club knew he was juicing. "Take 'roids (or speed) if you want to win, like Eddy." Don't bother denying it, he was busted three times. So, as far as we know, by that comparison Pog >> Eddy.

At this point it’s safe to say Pogi is the greatest of all time

No one can beat Mercks records not ever in my opinion. 5 tdf 5 GdItalia the guy won classics world champs etc etc

What if as they rise young the also down young... there are already examples but there are always analysis case by case... alaphilipe lost the 'edge ' when the 1st baby born... is easy to dismiss the fact that they are young and have nothing to lose... they enjoy and risk at the same time but what if they risk something... you can see that those if as a baby born make changes in pro cyclist... one day pog will have something that makes him on the spot of thinking and then is no longer edgy... just saying this can happen we can see this

Get off Eddie’s nutz! Merckx never rode mt bike or cross races, he may have been the greatest road racer but mvp is the greatest cyclist ever!

a bit early for this

One monument i hope Pogi doesn’t matche is the amount of positive doping tests Merckx had. 4-0 so far to Merckx….. in fact at the comparable stage of their careers Merckx was already 1-0 on this shameful front. Their records would not be comparable as Merckx would have had a lifetime ban by today’s standards and he would not amassed anywhere near the number of victories his palmares shows. The arrogance Merckx still walks around with and the adulation organisers demonstrate when they roll out the old “doping dinosaur” is comical. Cycling will never truly heal until it addresses ALL its dirty past.

Eddie 3 times world champion vs pogi 0 …

Pogacars nickname can be "The Pogromist." A "pogromist" is one who organizes a pogrom: an organized massacre of helpless people (cyclists)...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

Clickbait title... guys please

Eddie was juiced

Everyone has forgotten that Tadej's team boss is Mauro Gianetti

It's pronounced Tadej Poga Char, not Tadej po-gotcha

Pretty sure they both had access to the best juice available during their years

Umm did we forget who won the TDF last year?

pogacar firstly needs to be better than bernard hinault pogacar has failed 4 times at san remo which has 2 climbs at final kms a goos indicator that pogacar will never win roubaix which is flat race also pogacar doesn't win time trials too often

Is he the on the juice?

Mauro Gianetti's love child, of course there are parallels with Merckx, doping!