Pogacar & Van der Poel: One-Day Cycling Domination

Sixteen from eighteen. The dominance of Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel in monument classics and road championships is crushing.

Only Remco Evenepoel and Jasper Philipsen have beaten the two tyrants in their 36-month reign of sledgehammer attacks and solo stampedes.

This deadly duopoly could continue on Saturday and run through the spring of 2026.

Pogacar Returns To “His” Lombardy this weekend with the plan of writing more history by winning “The Race of the Falling Leaves” a fifth consecutive time.

“It’s been a long season now, but Lombardia is a big goal and there’s extra motivation to do it super good,” Pogačar said this week after he humbled everyone at Tre Valli Varesine.

“Lombardia is a monument and one of the biggest races on the calendar. The legs should be good for Saturday.”

Of course, it won’t be a cakewalk for Pogačar in Lombardy.

Van der Poel won’t take his strapping shoulders to the startline, but Tom Pidcock, Pogačar’s upstart UAE teammate Isaac del Toroand the pesky chaser Evenepoel will all be there.

However, after a sweep of three victories totalling more than 160km of solo attacksthe falling leaves are definitely Pointing Pogacar’s Way.

“The gaps are just monstrous,” Romain Gregoire told Direct Velo after Pogačar’s 75km stunt at the European championships.

“There are aliens up front” Gregoire said. “Pogačar and Evenepoel – there’s simply no contest between them and us.”

16 from 18

“Alien” is a loaded term, but Gregoire has a point.

Pogačar already counts 11 monument and road world championships on his palmarès, and he’s not long turned 27.

Van der Poel, a rider with far less range and future potential than Pogačar, is on nine.

Evenepoel, the other “alien” of Gregoire’s world, would have a significantly bigger haul of one monument and one world championship road title if Pogačar weren’t around.

Indeed, only he and Philipsen have broken Van der Poel and Pogačar’s three-year reign of classics terror.

And let’s not forget – Pogačar had crashed out when Evenepoel won the 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège. MVDP set up his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Philipsen’s winning dash at Milan-San Remo the year after.

Pogačar and van der Poel, they’re Nigh on UnstopPable.

Pogačar and van der Poel’s Three-Year Rule:

Van der Poel: ‘It must feel a bit like when Merckx was racing’

Pogačar underlined his insane dominance in the past month of racing.

Just months after he won a fourth Tour de France, the all-slaying Slovenian made the road worlds, European championships, and Tre Valli Varesine look like training rides.

Even Van der Poel – the only rider to have beaten Pogačar in a monument or road worlds since the 2024 Tour of Flanders – is bowing down.

“It is really impressive, and it looks so easy,” Van der Poel mused on Pogačar’s recent rout when speaking to The Latest News.

“I have said it before, ‘the new Merckx’ might not be the right comparison, because his name is Pogačar. But for us, it must feel like it did when Merckx was racing,” Van der Poel said. “On his terrain, Pogačar can do whatever he wants.”

Van der Poel is perhaps the greatest spring classics rider of the recent era.

But that’s not stopping him from shelving his ego and admitting a Tour de France climber has been putting him on the very limit.

Pogačar pushed Van der Poel and Fillipo Ganna to the brink this year at San Remo. And who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t crashed in the final hour of his audacious debut at “The Hell of the North.”

“That [San Remo and Roubaix – ed] was on my terrain, and even then it was close. On his terrain, I am no threat to him,” Van der Poel told HLN. “It does give me extra motivation to be ready again next spring.

“If you can follow Pogačar and beat him, you are close to victory.”

Pogačar is already salivating at the prospect of returning to the northern classics in 2026.

San Remo and Roubaix are definite. And a title defense at The Round? Why not.

Van der Poel will need to rest hard this off-season … when he’s not running around mucky cyclocross circuits, that is.

WHO Can Disrupt the Pogacar-Van Poel Duopoly?

If even Van der Poel is questioning his capacity against his Slovenian frienemy, who else stands a chance?

Evenepoel – second behind Pogačar at both the world and European road races, and winner of both TTs – could turn the tables this weekend.

“Lombardia is a hard race, where you have to be really strong in order to be in contention for a nice result,” Evenepoel said this week. “I feel that I come here with both a good form and a solid team around me, and this makes me confident in my chances.”

Beyond the Belgian, the legitimate challengers to Pogačar’s rule over the hilly monuments seems slim.

Pidcock, Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz? Maybe as one-offs.

In the longer term, Paul Seixas could present a more permanent challenge.

Isaac del Toro definitely has the motor and maybe a better final kick. But for now, team politik at UAE could make it hard for the 21-year-old to dominate with the authority of his talismanic leader. The young Mexican might have to wait for Pogačar’s inevitable decline.

The list of challengers is even thinner for San Remo, Flanders, and Roubaix.

Based on this winter, Mads Pedersen is the only rider who’s close to Van der Poel and Pogačar. Wout van Aert needs his very best 2022 form to be in the picture.

Further into the future, there are no obvious kings of Flanders.

Coppi or bust

The biggest possible headline from Il Lombardia on Saturday?

If Pogacar doesn’t win.

It would draw more clicks even than if he pulls a solo that dwarves his record 80km escapade last spring at Strade Bianche.

And if Pogacar does win?

More history. He would surpass Coppi’s sequence of four straight victories at Il Lombardia through the 40s, and put him level with the Italian great on five wins total.

He’d also be the first rider to podium every monument of the year – 3rd at San Remo, 1st in Flanders, 2nd at Roubaix, 1st in Liège and Lombardy.

The history-writers will no doubt be poised with their pens Saturday afternoon.