Cycling legend De Vlaeminck doesn't hold back criticism: from "Van der Poel sat in the wheels for 250 kilometers" to "We used to ride all the races too"

The ever-hungry Pogacar is making fans' hearts beat faster with his race choices. “Is that so? I think it's all pretty normal,” counters De Vlaeminck in a conversation with Sporza. “It’s like everyone is suddenly so thrilled. Back in our day, didn’t we ride every race too? I rode at least 120 races a year, around 15 cyclo-cross races, and a few six-day track events,” says the 77-year-old Belgian. He believes comparisons between Eddy Merckx and Pogacar are completely absurd. “Come on, man—I know how fast Eddy could ride. I often sat in his wheel with fear, I’m telling you.”

That riders today only race 60 to 70 days a year doesn’t sit well with the man from Eeklo. According to the former classics specialist, riders today should still be able to race as much as possible. “I won Tirreno-Adriatico six times and in those same years also won Milan-San Remo three times. Why wouldn’t that be possible anymore? Because riders now fear they’ll burn out too fast? Am I burned out, maybe? What’s wrong with these riders? They earn way more money, but they shouldn't be saying it’s too much.”

You might think De Vlaeminck would appreciate riders who still remind us of the old days, like Mathieu van der Poel. Like a true Flandrien, the Dutchman is etching his name into the history books—but even he can’t escape the blunt opinion of the Paris-Roubaix record holder. “Mathieu van der Poel wins Milan-San Remo, but he sat in the wheels for 250 kilometers, right? And Filippo Ganna got dropped three times and only came back because the others held back. Now with Ganna, you have one Italian at a high level—and he’s no superman. In my time, there were ten Italians among the absolute best.”

De Vlaeminck refuses to hold back. He sees today's riders as spoiled and arrogant. He also criticizes the role of team managers, who he says too often make the decisions for their athletes. “Make sure you write this down properly: the riders aren’t the ones choosing, it’s the bosses around them who do. We rode everything. Winning 512 races like I did—is that no longer possible these days? Why not? Of course not, if you only ride 400 races. We earned a decent living too, but we had to race a lot for it. Sometimes it just makes me sick.”