Tadej Pogacar
Roger De Vlaeminck
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Roger De Vlaeminck leads 2 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Tadej Pogacar at #2 and Roger De Vlaeminck at #8.
The case for Tadej Pogacar
The most complete rider since Merckx, Pogacar has collapsed the old boundaries between Grand Tour men and Classics hunters. As of the 2025 season he owns four Tours de France, won in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025, plus the 2024 Giro d'Italia and back-to-back World titles in 2024 and 2025. In 2024 he completed the Giro-Tour-Worlds Triple Crown, the first rider to do so since Stephen Roche in 1987. He also dominates the Monuments, with a run of Il Lombardia wins, multiple Liege-Bastogne-Liege victories and a first Tour of Flanders, passing 100 career wins before turning 27. His willingness to attack from enormous distances has redefined the sport's tactics, and at his age the ceiling on his numbers is not yet in sight.
The case for Roger De Vlaeminck
Known as Mr. Paris-Roubaix, De Vlaeminck was the supreme Classics specialist of the Merckx era, and his 11 Monument victories rank second only to Merckx himself. He won Paris-Roubaix four times, in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977, a feat matched only by Tom Boonen, mastering the cobbles like no one else of his generation. He added three Milan-San Remo, a Liege-Bastogne-Liege, two Il Lombardia and a Tour of Flanders, and won the 1975 cyclocross World Championship for good measure, underlining his versatility on rough terrain. With well over 250 career wins, De Vlaeminck was a rider who could sprint, endure and read a Classic perfectly, and his duels with Merckx and Freddy Maertens made Belgium the beating heart of one-day racing in the 1970s.