Guimard on Pogacar's Monument Sweep: "If He Wins All Five, He Should Go on Vacation and Let the Others Try"
Cyrille Guimard, the legendary French directeur sportif who guided the careers of Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond, has offered a characteristically blunt assessment of Tadej Pogacar's bid to win all five Monuments in a single season. Writing in his Cyclism'Actu column, Guimard suggested that if Pogacar achieves the unprecedented feat, he should simply stop racing and give the rest of the peloton a chance. "If he wins all five, he should go on vacation and let the others try," Guimard wrote.
The comment, delivered with the dry wit that has made Guimard one of cycling's most quotable analysts, reflects a growing sense of disbelief across the sport at what Pogacar is attempting. No rider in the 130-year history of professional cycling has ever won all five Monuments — Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro di Lombardia — in the same season. Not Eddy Merckx. Not Rik Van Looy. Not Roger De Vlaeminck. The three men who collected all five across their careers needed years to complete the set. Pogacar is trying to do it in seven months.
After victories at Milan-San Remo in March and the Tour of Flanders last Sunday — following his Strade Bianche triumph in early March — Pogacar now needs Paris-Roubaix on 12 April, Liège-Bastogne-Liège on 26 April and the Giro di Lombardia in October to complete the unprecedented sweep. He has already won three of the five in his career, with only Paris-Roubaix — cycling's brutal Hell of the North — remaining as unfinished business.
Guimard, however, is not convinced it can be done. "I don't think it's possible," he wrote, pointing to the myriad variables that could derail even the most dominant rider. "There would have to be no problem, no crash, no illness." It is a fair point: Pogacar's own spring has not been without incident. He crashed before the Cipressa at Milan-San Remo and still won. He was fined for running a level crossing at the Tour of Flanders and still won. But Paris-Roubaix, with its 54.8 kilometres of cobblestones and legendary capacity for chaos, represents a fundamentally different challenge — one where raw power must be married to bike handling, positioning and a large dose of fortune.
The question Guimard posed — "Who can beat Pogacar?" — is one the entire peloton is grappling with. At the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu van der Poel produced 650 watts on the Kwaremont and still could not hold Pogacar's wheel. Remco Evenepoel attacked repeatedly and finished third, 32 seconds adrift. Wout van Aert rode superbly for fourth. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader beat the three best one-day racers of his generation on their own terrain, and did so looking like he had something in reserve.
Yet Guimard, ever the pragmatist, ultimately circled back to a simple conclusion. "Maybe Pogacar is simply stronger," he conceded. It is the same conclusion that an increasing number of observers are reaching as the Slovenian's 2026 campaign continues to redefine what is possible in the sport. Three races into his spring Classics campaign, Pogacar has three victories. The form is perfect. The confidence is absolute. And with Paris-Roubaix five days away, the cycling world holds its breath.
For the peloton, the implications are clear. If Pogacar wins at Roubaix on Sunday, the narrative shifts from whether he can win all five to whether anyone can stop him at Liège and Lombardia — two races he has already won three and five times respectively. Even Guimard might struggle to argue against the inevitable at that point.