Eddy Merckx, cycling legend and winner of five Tours de France: “At the age of 30, I had already made my career. Today runners participate in a maximum of about 80 races a year. I did between 130 and 150”

The Belgian ex-cyclist Eddy Merckxconsidered one of the best runners in history, relativized the risk that the precocity of the new generations will shorten their professional careersin the heat of the statements of Jonas Vingegaard, who at 29 years old has said that he is considering retiring.

“He said it hotly, the result of disappointment and frustration. But when he returns to training he will set new goals. It’s not worn out,” said Merckx, 81, in an interview with the Belgian newspaper DH Les Sports on the occasion of the Montreal cycling world championships.

Since 2024, and often after a strong fall, Vingegaard, double winner of the Tour de France (2022 and 2023) and also champion of the Vuelta a España (2025) and the Giro d’Italia (2026), has suggested that he could retire relatively young and that, in any case, he does not see himself racing until he is 35 years old.

The ‘Cannibal’, who retired as a professional at the age of 32, compared the Dane’s situation with his career, and recalled the enormous competitive burden that runners of his generation borne.

“At 30 years old, it is true that I had practically already completed my career, but I also had a number of days of competition consistent with my record. Today runners participate in a maximum of about 80 races a year. I did between 130 and 150“he noted.

“So if they are well cared for, there is no reason why they shouldn’t have a long career.“added the five-time Tour de France winner.

Merckx also referred to the emergence of increasingly younger cyclists in the peloton, a phenomenon that is not exclusive to his sport, but a consequence of increasingly earlier professionalization.

“In tennis and football you also start earlier and earlier. Athletes are trained from a very young age with methods that are already professional. That is why they can become professionals sooner,” he explained.

Among the representatives of this new generation, the Frenchman Paul Seixas and the Italian Lorenzo Finn, rider of the Red Bull-Bora development team, stood out.

“There is Seixas, who impresses. I also saw Lorenzo Finn in the Tour del Porvenir, who is presented as the ‘new Pogacar’. He left me impressed. It is finally good news for Italy, which is seeing new talents appear,” he said.

The Belgian also referred to Tadej Pogacar, absent from the World Cup in Montreal, and considered the Slovenian’s decision to not hasten his return after his fall in the Vuelta a España, when he was an outstanding leader, to be correct.

To illustrate this, he turned to his own experience in the 1975 Tour de France, when he continued competing despite suffering a double jaw fracture.

“I made the mistake of continuing. That bad decision ruined the later part and the end of my career. Pogacar did very well not to hasten his return, it would have been a very bad decision,” he said.

The World Championship will return this Sunday to Mont Royal in Montreal, where Merckx won the third and last of his world titles in 1974, which he still remembers as the most unexpected.

“It’s a rainbow jersey that I never thought I could bring home because I had raced 42 criteriums after the Tour de France,” the Belgian recalled.

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s race, Merckx placed his compatriots Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert among the main contenders and considered that the possibilities of both are “quite balanced.”

“There is no reason why the tandem should not work,” Merckx stated, although he specified that “if Remco feels in a position to win,” he would opt for Evenepoel.

“He will not give gifts,” he concluded.