“The greatest cyclist that ever lived” - but is Tour of Flanders win over Mathieu van der Poel evidence that Tadej Pogacar has 'plateaued'?
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/09/16/image-70e52184-1d6b-4d9c-a172-9a13d4a3a1d9-68-310-310.jpeg)
Published 05/04/2026 at 18:58 GMT+1
React to this story
Tadej Pogacar roared to his 12th Monument win in the last six seasons by beating Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen at the 2026 Tour of Flanders, causing TNT Sports' Adam Blythe to label him "the greatest cyclist that ever lived". Pogacar had to dig deeper than his triumph last year though, so is that evidence that the world champion has plateaued at the top?
Pogacar 'motivated' for Paris–Roubaix after Tour of Flanders victory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was crowned "the greatest cyclist that ever lived" by TNT Sports' Adam Blythe after besting Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to win the 2026 Tour of Flanders.
It is the third time Pogacar has won the Monument - equalling the record for most victories - though Blythe added that it was the hardest fought triumph of that hat-trick and TNT’s former British champion Matt Stephens wondered whether it showed that Pogacar has ”plateaued”.
Debutant Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) completed a superstar-studded top five and the result means Pogacar has tied Van der Poel on three Tour of Flanders wins.
However, it was not his closest margin of victory as just 16 seconds separated the pair in 2023 while the Dutchman has beaten Pogacar once at the race, in 2022.
”We are trying to find something here but it was not as emphatic as last year,” Stephens said. ”Last year Mathieu’s head dropped really quickly and he just went away, you could visibly see the difference.
”[This year] there was a little bit of hope at the top of the Kwaremont, it looked like Mathieu maybe learned or maybe was just feeling a little bit better. He has not been drawn into trying to follow him initially because we know as soon as the gradient starts to rise that is where Tadej Pogacar is at more of an advantage.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2026/04/05/image-e976591e-c2c7-4fcb-9e70-4626d60e2303-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
'Don't anger the beast!' - Evenepoel dropped on Paterberg as Pogacar and Van der Poel pull clear
Video credit: TNT Sports
”I think Mathieu is in great shape, this man [Pogacar] is in even better shape. But look at the face of Pogacar, glancing around, he was glancing around all the time with earlier on with Remco, he was glancing around then.
”It suggests to me that Tadej is good but maybe he has kind of plateaued a bit and Mathieu is not that far away. But that climb suits him [Pogacar] down to the ground, he is still on another level.”
In the longest edition of the Tour of Flanders since 1988, Pogacar attacked with 50 kilometres remaining of the 279km race on the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont - the toughest climb of the day where he has also made the difference in previous years - and only Van der Poel and Evenepoel could live with the pace.
The Belgian was distanced shortly after on the soul-crushingly steep Paterberg, and Pogacar finally shook off van der Poel on the third and final passage over the Kwaremont meaning the reigning world champion was the last man standing from one of the most competitive Monument startlists in recent memory.
- 'Unprecedented' chaos at Tour of Flanders as train crossing splits peloton behind Pogacar
- Vollering adds to classics collection after soloing to dominant Ronde victory
- 'Do I think about quitting? Yes and no' - Van Aert opens up on retirement ahead of Ronde
TNT’s Sean Kelly - who never took victory at the Tour of Flanders but finished second in the race on three occasions and won each of the four other Monuments multiple times - described it as a ”monster performance” while Blythe went even further.
”That by far has been the hardest Flanders that he has won in terms of how he has had to do it,” Blythe said.
”There was a point where he went the second time to drop Mathieu and there was a point of ‘is he coming back?’, he [Pogacar] really had to work for that one and you rarely see him grimacing.
”And there is an argument here that watching it from where we are sat when he does go on the attack he makes it slightly boring but the man is the greatest cyclist that I have ever watched.”
”I did not get the chance to watch Eddy Merckx and all these guys but what this man is capable of in Grand Tours, Classics, One-day races, there is no one like him and I do not think there is going to be anyone like him ever again, he is just the greatest cyclist that ever lived in my eyes.”
Stream the 2026 cycling season, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
Advertisement
Advertisement