He Might Be the Greatest Cyclist of All Time

Tadej Pogacar didn't just win his record-tying fifth Tour de France on Sunday. He won easily. At the Wall Street Journal, Joshua Robinson writes that the 27-year-old Slovenian "proved that his hold on the peloton was so suffocating that no one even dared attack him anymore" during races. It would just be futile. Legend Greg LeMond is now predicting that Pogacar will win at least seven Tours de France before he's done, notes Cycling News. And Lance Armstrong, who won seven himself only to see them stripped because of doping, has pronounced Pogacar the greatest cyclist in history, per brobible.

The GOAT honor is typically bestowed upon a cyclist named Eddy Merckx, who rode decades ago and is among the five cyclists with five Tour wins. But Pogacar is fast eclipsing him in reputation and victories. A post at the Conversation lays out what makes him so great, starting with an "enormous aerobic capacity." He combines that with durability, often attacking his opponents late as they are flagging, and versatility—he does everything well, from sprints to hill climbing. "At an elite level, each advantage is small," write Andrew Rowland and Ashley M. Hopkins. "Pogacar's greatness lies in possessing all of them at once."