Now that the 2024 road season is over, we can look back on the top winners; Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel and their move up the table of all-time Monument winners. Between the two stars, they have won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia (Pogačar), Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix (Van der Poel) this season. They also had a few other fairly good results, but Grand Tours, Classics and World championships are for another day.
Tadej Pogačar now has seven Monuments in his palmarès
Tadej Pogačar’s Monuments palmarès was already very good before this season, but now after a fourth-in-a-row victory in Il Lombardy, the Slovenian won his seventh monument last Saturday and joins Gino Bartali, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. All these champions of the past won seven monuments during their careers. Bartali had the problem of the Second World War interrupting his career, he still managed to win four Milano-Sanremo’s in 1939, 1940, 1947 and 1950 and Il Lombardia three times in 1936, 1939 and 1940.
Pogačar joins Bartali
Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara took their seven Monuments more recently than ‘L’intramontabile’. The two Classics-men split the Monuments between them. Tommeke won his home race, De Ronde van Vlaanderen, three times in his career and holds the record (with Roger de Vlaeminck) of Paris-Roubaix wins with four victories. Cancellara won Flanders three times and Roubaix three times and also Milano-Sanremo once.
Seven each for Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara
Bartali, Boonen and Cancellara have been joined by the World champion, Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian is still only 26-years-old, but he has four Il Lombardia wins to go with his two Liège-Bastoge-Liège victories and his one De Ronde. It’s safe to say that Boonen, Cancellara and Bartali will not win any more races, Pogačar is going to add to his palmarès, how many? Who knows, but there will be more Monument victories.
Rik Van Looy next to Van der Poel’s grandfather, Raymond Poulidor
Ahead of Pogačar is Rik Van Looy on 8 Monuments, then there is Costante Girardengo, Fausto Coppi and Sean Kelly on 9 Monuments and looking at Pogačar this season, their places are far from safe. Barring very bad luck, the reigning World champion can will move up the ‘Monument League’. ‘The Gypsy’ Roger De Vlaeminck is in second place with eleven Monument victories, at the present rate, the Slovenian will be nipping at his heels.
Could Pogačar win in Roubaix?
As you will undoubtably know, Eddy Merckx is the top of the Monument winners. The ‘Cannibal’ has won nineteen of the biggest one-day races on the cycling calendar. In the sixties and seventies he won Milano-Sanremo seven times, the Tour of Flanders twice, Paris-Roubaix three times, Liège-Bastoge-Liège five times and twice in Lombardy. Pogačar has to win twelve more to equal the best racing cyclist ever, but anything seems possible for ‘Pogi’ at the moment.
19 Monuments for Merckx – Too much for Pogačar or anyone else?
When Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix this spring, he moved up to join Italians Alfredo Binda, Francesco Moser and Moreno Argentin, Belgians Johan Museeuw and Fred De Bruyne and the Frenchman Henri Pélissier on six Monuments. Van der Poel is a Classic’s rider, he’s not going to win a Grand Tour and his palmarès looked even better after his second victory in Paris-Roubaix. That was the Dutchman’s sixth Monument and with that he moved ahead of champions: Van Steenbergen, Hinault, Bartoli, Bettini and Gilbert.
Mathieu van der Poel’s second Roubaix and sixth Monument
These top riders of their time won six Monuments (and much more) during their careers and Mathieu Van der Poel joined them after Roubaix. Moser won Paris-Roubaix three times between 1975-1984, Lombardia twice and Milano-Sanremo once. Between 1993 and 2002, Museeuw was the best three times in De Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, the two races that will be forever connected to the Belgian.
Three Flanders and Roubaix for Johan Museeuw
Henri Pélissier from 1911 to 1921 won Paris–Roubaix twice, Il Lombardia three times and Milano–Sanremo in 1912. He also won the Tour de France and a load of other Classics, plus he also had the inconvenience of the first World War.
The Pélissier brothers
Apart from having his name on the best toe-straps available, when they were a thing, Alfredo Binda won Milano-Sanremo twice and Il Lombardia four times between 1925 and 1931. He was also the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia five times and was World champion tree times. So dominant was Binda that the Gazzetta dello Sport offered him 22,500 lire to not ride the 1930 Giro. Binda also revolutionised training and racing methods and at the time, was thought of as the greatest cyclist ever.
Binda was so famous they put him on a stamp
Fred De Bruyne won Milano–Sanremo and Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1956. In 1957 he won both the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix. In 1958 and 1959 he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Apart from winning those Monuments, he also finished in the top 10 in Roubaix and Flanders on other occasions, plus Gent–Wevelgem, La Flèche Wallonne and Paris-Tours. When he stopped racing he turned to team mangement and TV commentary.
Fred De Bruyne – Winner of six monuments
Moreno Argentin was one of the classiest riders of the late 80’s, his smooth style was a wonder to watch. He too is on a par with the others with six Monuments. He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège four times and the Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia once each. Amongst his many wins were the La Flèche Wallonne three times, Italian national champion twice and World champion in 1986.
Moreno Argentin – Six Monuments with class
Apart from his six monuments, there is a lot to write about Francesco Moser: Hour record, Giro d’Italia, World and national championships, Paris–Tours, La Flèche Wallonne and Gent–Wevelgem, name a few. But when it comes to the Monuments, his three Paris–Roubaix wins are the most memorable. Add two wins in Il Lombardia and a Milano–Sanremo and you have the six.
Francesco Moser was so strong in many different conditions
Mathieu van der Poel is ‘only’ 29-years-old and, unlike the others, not finished yet. The Dutch ex-World champion will rise higher in the Monument winner’s league, but how high? Roger De Vlaeminck eleven victories maybe beyond his grasp and Eddy Merckx’s nineteen can only be a dream, but nine monuments and the third placed group with Girardengo, Coppi and Kelly, could be a fitting final position in the World of Monument winners for the son of Adri and grandson of Raymond Poulidor.
More to come form Mathieu van der Poel
The Top Monument Winners:
19 Monuments: Eddy Merckx
11: Roger De Vlaeminck
9: Costante Girardengo, Fausto Coppi and Sean Kelly
8: Rik Van Looy
7: Gino Bartali, Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara and Tadej Pogačar
6: Henri Pélissier, Alfredo Binda, Fred De Bruyne, Francesco Moser, Moreno Argentin, Johan Museeuw and Mathieu van der Poel
5: Gaetano Belloni, Rik Van Steenbergen, Bernard Hinault, Michele Bartoli, Paolo Bettini and Philippe Gilbert
4: Gaston Rebry, Alfons Schepers, Louison Bobet, Germain Derycke, Felice Gimondi, Walter Godefroot, Hennie Kuiper, Jan Raas, Erik Zabel and Alejandro Valverde.
# Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel have, we hope, many seasons and wins ahead of them – Keep it PEZ for the best race coverage. #
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