If we look at the numbers, it clearly emerges that Tadej's feat pogacar al Tour of Lombardy allowed him to make a concrete leap in the history of cycling, alongside Coppi e Merckx among those who have been able to win a Grand Tour and two Monument Classics in the same year. It seems strange, but the very fact of having won a second classic after what he had already done allowed him to emerge from a large group., exactly as it happens when it starts to go off as soon as the road rises under the wheels.
Let's try to explain the concept better: Winning a major stage race and one of the five classics considered cornerstones of cycling (Sanremo, Flanders, Roubaix, Liège and Lombardy) is quite a common occurrence.. In history, 46 people have succeeded in doing so and the pairing was already normal at the beginning, with Lucien Petit Breton, Mauritius Garin but also Luigi Ganna.
An increasingly difficult match
It is also true, however, that at the time the competition was not so high and even less the specialization, it is no coincidence that among the riders currently active only people like Nibali, Valverde and more recently to the two terrible Slovenians, Roglic and precisely pogacar.
The discussion becomes more selective if we ask that these victories came in the same year: the list narrows down to 27 riders.The first was Petit Breton, who in 1907 won Milan-Sanremo and the Tour de France. Some succeeded more than once: 6 Merckx (but the Cannibal deserves a separate discussion), 3 Hinault e binda, 2 girardengo and Coppi, who however in 1949 was capable of a sensational feat: combining the Giro-Tour double with victories in the Sanremo and the Lombardia.
Francesco Moser: Sanremo and Giro in 1984 Evgeni Berzin: first in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro d'Italia in 1994 Danilo Di Luca also won a double at Liège and Giro in 2007 Roglic's sensational defeat of Alaphilippe at Liège 2020, followed by the Vuelta
Francesco Moser: Sanremo and Giro in 1984 Evgeni Berzin: first in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro d'Italia in 1994 Danilo Di Luca also won a double at Liège and Giro in 2007 Roglic's sensational defeat of Alaphilippe at Liège 2020, followed by the Vuelta
Why did they call him “the Cannibal”…
We thus enter the very select circle of winners of a major stage race and two classics. After Coppi and Pogacar, the great Eddy remains. The Belgian champion was able to do it 4 timesIn 1969 he won Sanremo, Flanders, Liège, and the Tour (and finished second in Roubaix…); in 71, Sanremo, the Tour, Liège, and the Lombardy; in 73, Roubaix, Liège, the Vuelta, and the Giro, but he lost the Lombardy victory due to the famous disqualification. If that weren't enough, in 1970 he combined the Giro-Tour double with a victory in Roubaix.
His golden year, however, was 1972: Not only did he achieve another Giro-Tour double, but he topped it all off with victories in Sanremo, Liège and Lombardy, finishing 7th in the other two classics.He didn't run the Vuelta, but given his overwhelming power, if he had…
The problem of competition
Looking back at the statistics, a curious fact emerges. Among those who came close to the feat achieved by Coppi, Merckx, and Pogacar was Gaetano Belloni, that is, the one who has gone down in history as "the eternal second". In 1920 he achieved the Sanremo-Giro double (quite common indeed, the Classicissima at least in the last century it was a lucky charm for the Giro d'Italia) finishing third at the Lombardia, beaten in the sprint by Brunero when now Pellissier (one of many capable of winning both on a single day and over three weeks) had arrived at 1'20". But then again, Belloni has gone down in history more for his defeats than for his victories...
Will Pogacar be able to rise even higher? Merckx is convinced of it, having spent words of esteem for him that he had never pronounced for anyone, but there are two factors that make the further undertaking difficult: the first is competition, strong in the Grand Tours (Roglic, Bernal, other young up-and-coming riders) and very strong in the classics (Van Aert, Van Der Poel, Alaphilippe and we're only mentioning a few), but that has to be taken into account and it's not as if Coppi and Merckx were racing against anyone...
The second is perhaps even more problematic and is dictated by his programs: Although Pogacar says he is fascinated by races like the Giro d'Italia, his calendar is quite static.The Tour is essential, Sanremo and Roubaix are too far from his mentality to really try and this, for those who love cycling and cheer for great achievements regardless of the flag, is a shame.
