Contador and Valverde claim they could've beaten Pogačar in their prime: 'I’ll carry that memory with me'

Everyone knows that Tadej Pogačar is the best cyclist in the world. When it comes down to it, he actually seems unbeatable in most areas. But in Spain, in could be different. Alberto Contador thinks he would have had a chance against the Slovenian when he was at his peak, and Alejandro Valverde also believes the world champion isn’t unbeatable.

Pogacar has won no fewer than 127 races so far, and he’s far from done winning. In his illustrious career, he has already won the Tour de France five times, the World Championship twice, and no fewer than thirteen Monuments, including five Tour of Lombardy titles and three Tour of Flanders titles. But is he unbeatable? Alberto Contador thinks he would have had a chance.

The Spaniard won seven Grand Tours, including two Tour de France titles. That number stretches to nine Grand Tours and three Tours de France, if you count the victories that were stripped from him due to his positive doping test for clenbuterol. In his day, El Pistolero was undoubtedly the rider to beat when it came to the GC. He thinks he could have given Pogačar a run for his money.

But only at his best. “I’m sure the Alberto Contador of the 2014 Tour could have gone head-to-head with Pogačar, but the Contador of 2007 and 2009—I don’t think so,” he explains to Diario del Triatlon. “In 2014, I was flying down the road, but in cycling, a crash can happen—and that’s what happened to me in that Tour.” Contador took a hard fall in the 2014 Tour and had to withdraw from the race while still in contention: Vincenzo Nibali ultimately won the Tour.

Contador retired from cycling in 2017, but his compatriot Valverde continued for a while longer. He hung up his bike in 2022 and witnessed Pogačar’s rise to stardom from the front row. For example, the Spaniard lost the sprint to the Slovenian when the latter claimed his first Monument at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2021.

El Imbatido ( The Unbeatable, ed.) takes a slightly more nuanced view of the comparisons between himself and Pogačar. “I don’t know if I could have beaten him, but what I’m certain of is that Pogačar is the best cyclist in the world. There are a number of very good riders right now, but no one is like him. I don’t know if I could have challenged him at my peak, at age 20 or 30.”

But toward the end of his career, Valverde realised that the Slovenian could indeed be beaten. “What is certain is that, before I retired, I had the chance to compete against him in my final year. I didn’t manage to beat him, but I almost did during the 2022 Strade Bianche—at the age of 42, in that Italian cycling race at the end of my career—and well, I’ll carry that memory with me.”

Pogacar won the Strade Bianche for the first time in 2022. He crossed the finish line alone in Siena after a 50-kilometer solo breakaway: Valverde finished second, 37 seconds behind the winner.