Armstrong, Wiggins and Boonen Fuel Cycling's Greatest-Ever Debate After Pogačar's Flanders Masterclass
It took less than twenty-four hours for Tadej Pogačar's third Tour of Flanders victory to reignite the most charged debate in professional cycling: is the Slovenian already the greatest cyclist of all time? Lance Armstrong, speaking on his podcast the morning after Pogačar's devastating solo attack on the Oude Kwaremont, left no room for ambiguity. "We have to stop this debate. For me, this is over," the American said. "Pogačar is the greatest of all time, by far. What he does — every time he pins on a number, he shows up. A rider with his style winning the Tour of Flanders three times in just three attempts… it seems like he has no limits."
It was the kind of unequivocal declaration that Armstrong has become known for in his post-racing career — bold, provocative, and delivered with the certainty of a man who has watched cycling evolve for three decades. But his co-host Bradley Wiggins, Britain's 2012 Tour de France winner, was not ready to crown Pogačar just yet. "He's heading that way," Wiggins replied carefully. "Give him five more years — five more years of winning at this level, with this kind of dominance — and he'll be close to someone like Eddy Merckx." It was a measured counterpoint, one that acknowledged Pogačar's extraordinary trajectory while cautioning against prematurely placing him above cycling's most sacred name.
The exchange captured the central tension in modern cycling discourse. Pogačar is 27 years old, already the owner of three Tour de France titles, a Giro d'Italia, multiple Monument victories across Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche, and the rainbow jersey of world champion. His 2026 spring campaign has been historically dominant — winning Milan-San Remo with a Poggio attack that dropped Mathieu van der Poel, then soloing to a third Flanders title two weeks later. Two Monuments down, three to go. Nobody in the sport's 150-year history has ever won all five Monuments in a single season. The fact that Pogačar is being seriously discussed as a candidate for precisely that achievement tells you where the conversation has moved.
Tom Boonen, the four-time Paris-Roubaix winner whose own Classics record is one of the finest in history, offered perhaps the most striking assessment. Speaking on the VRT podcast Wielerclub Wattage, Boonen said: "He has the potential to build an even greater palmarès than Merckx. Of course, those eras are hard to compare." Boonen elaborated on the modern context that shapes Pogačar's dominance, noting that today's peloton is far more specialised than in Merckx's era. "It plays in Pogačar's favour that riders today specialise more — some focus on classics, others on stage races. He does both at the highest level. That versatility is what makes him unique."
The numbers support the argument, even if they don't yet settle it. Pogačar now sits second on the all-time Monument victories list, behind only Eddy Merckx's record of 19 career Monument wins. He has amassed his tally at a pace that makes even the most partisan Merckx defenders pause. The comparison with the Belgian, once considered untouchable, is no longer theoretical — it is statistical reality. "Only Eddy Merckx left to chase," wrote Cyclingnews in their post-Flanders analysis, describing Pogačar as "the Messi or Ronaldo of cycling" — a comparison that speaks to the Slovenian's ability to transcend the sport and become a cultural reference point.
Merckx himself has been characteristically generous in his assessment. The 80-year-old Belgian has publicly backed Pogačar to win all five Monuments this season, saying earlier in the spring: "He has no limits. What more does he still have to do?" It was a remarkable endorsement from the man whose records Pogačar is systematically threatening — and one that carried more weight than any podcast hot take. When the greatest cyclist in history tells you that the man chasing his records might actually surpass them, the debate shifts from speculation to acknowledgement.
And yet Wiggins's caution has merit. Merckx dominated for the best part of fifteen years, accumulating 525 professional victories across every terrain and discipline. He won the Tour de France five times, the Giro d'Italia five times, and all five Monuments multiple times over. His palmarès was built in an era of relentless racing — over 1,800 professional starts in his career. Pogačar's numbers are extraordinary for his age, but the sheer volume of Merckx's career achievements remains a mountain that may take another decade to fully assess. The question is not whether Pogačar is great — that is beyond dispute — but whether the word "greatest" can be awarded at 27 when the benchmark was set across a career that lasted until 33.
What is beyond doubt is that the debate itself has shifted permanently. Before this spring, the GOAT conversation was largely academic — Merckx's name invoked reverentially, Pogačar's invoked with excitement and a trailing question mark. After Flanders, the question mark is fading. With Paris-Roubaix five days away and the Ardennes Classics beyond that, Pogačar has the opportunity to add further chapters to a story that is being written in real time. Armstrong may have been premature. Wiggins may have been prudent. But both men were responding to the same undeniable reality: Tadej Pogačar is rewriting cycling history, and nobody quite knows where it ends.