Outburst after outburst: De Vlaeminck faces strong criticism from Italy after Belgian lashed out at Pogacar and Van der Poel

The road season is over and so it remains a little quite around the riders. A good time to have a go: something like that is what Roger De Vlaeminck must have thought before the weekend. The former cyclist from Belgium strongly criticised Tadej Pogacar and also dealt with Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel. That has now brought De Vlaeminck himself to considerable criticism.

Back to last week, when De Vlaeminck suddenly lashed out firmly at the great tenors of todays cycling. Pogacar was first up. "Pogacar as good as Merckx? Madness! Pogacar doesn’t even come close to Merckx! Journalists who dare make that comparison don’t know a thing," he sounded extremely critical.

"Make me 22 today and put me in the bunch with Pogacar, and he wouldn’t drop me. Where was it recently — when he rode away from Evenepoel? At Lombardy. On not even a difficult climb. As good as Merckx… come on," De Vlaeminck continued.

De Vlaeminck, by the way, kept going and did not spare Van der Poel and Evenepoel either. "I like him too. And he’s a great rider. But he can’t time trial, he can’t climb, he can’t sprint — there’s not much left, eh," the Belgian said of the Dutchman.

"He’s not my type. A good rider, eh. A superb time trialist. But, I don’t know… I sometimes find him a bit arrogant. To cross the line and then lift your bike in the air… is that necessary? Just ride over the line and win, eh. Back in my day I’d give a little wave," De Vlaeminck said about Evenepoel.

The interview did not go unnoticed and in Italy it was seen with astonishment. Ricardo Magrini, former rider and also stage winner in the Tour and in the Giro, absolutely disagreed with the Belgian. "Maybe De Vlaeminck just got too old. When you get older, you tend to think only about what you yourself have done," he told Quibicisport.

"His statement about Pogacar is completely misplaced," the 70-year-old Italian continued. Magrini does not see the point of comparing riders from different eras at all. "It is absurd to compare eras. Merckx was Merckx, Hinault was Hinault, Pogacar is Pogacar. Period."

Both men are from the same era and know each other from their days as pro cyclists. Magrini thinks De Vlaeminck is stuck in the past. "I feel privileged, because thanks to my job as a commentator I can really appreciate the cycling of today." So why would there be not enough competition for Pogacar? "I don't understand who says he has no competitors or that he makes races boring. Today's cycling is full of phenomena."

"I really don't understand De Vlaeminck's statement," Magrini repeated. "It's like asking how Maradona would perform today against modern defences. Roger was a champion and he would have been in any era, I'm sure, but it makes no sense to ask if he could follow an attack of Pogacar," the Italian concluded.