Jonas Vingegaard has 'little way to go' before Eddy Merckx comparisons – Robbie McEwen on Tour de France champ

Updated 25/07/2023 at 16:44 GMT

Jonas Vingegaard joined the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Alberto Contador and Fausto Coppi on two Tour de France titles after coming through the procession into Paris on Sunday. The Dane is still three adrift of the all-time record shared jointly by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain – but at 26, he still has plenty of racing left in him.

Vingegaard has 'little way to go' before Merckx comparisons – McEwen

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) has a "little way to go" before comparisons to the likes of Eddy Merckx can be made, said Robbie McEwen, who added that the Dane "doesn't look like stopping anytime soon" after securing a second Tour de France title.

Vingegaard celebrated another yellow jersey on the procession into Paris on Sunday, linking arms with his team-mates on the front of the peloton before the sprinters took over to contest the Champs-Elysees spoils.

He struck the decisive blow at the start of the final week, first by putting an astonishing 1'38" into Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in the individual time trial on Stage 16, then backing it up a day later on the bruising Col de la Loze climb as his rival cracked badly.

Giro d'Italia

'Itching to go' - Thomas ready for 'massive challenge' of taking on Pogacar at Giro

23 minutes ago

Although Pogacar claimed a redemptive win on the penultimate stage on Saturday, Vingegaard topped the general classification by 7'29" from the Slovenian.

Vingegaard now joins a small club of riders to win the Tour twice, including Pogacar, although needs three more to match the exploits of Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hinault.

"There's not a lot of riders that do it back-to-back, I mean there are other riders who have won two Tours," 12-time Tour stage winner McEwen said on The Breakaway in Paris.

"You've got a little way to go before you start comparing him to the likes of Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Chris Froome… If he can keep this up, he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon."

He added: "We saw the beginning of the Vingegaard era last year with his win. He had a few moments where we thought maybe Pogacar was getting the better of him but he bounced back every single time. When it came to the crunch, the really big moments, he shone."

'We did it' – Vingegaard set to celebrate with 'nice dinner'

Vingegaard, who earlier confirmed he will ride the Vuelta a Espana next month, said he hopes to return to the Tour in 2024.

He can expect to renew his rivalry with Pogacar, who now faces the dilemma of whether to park his Spring Classics ambitions to arrive at the Tour in top shape next year.

Pogacar claimed victory at a spree of one-day races in a sensational start to the season, including the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold, before his build-up to the Tour was derailed when he fractured his wrist at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Asked if he could see Vingegaard winning the Tour again, Adam Blythe said: "100%. He's the type of rider that can do that. But there's always someone new coming up.

"As he's going now, his trajectory is saying 'yes, he definitely can'. But Pogacar has been focused on a lot of other things this year, if he focused on the Tour de France it might be a different story."

He added: "Jonas is a Tour de France rider. I'm not going to say it's the only race he's good at, but he has one target through the year. Every little bit of detail throughout the year will be towards the Tour de France.

"You look at Tadej Pogacar, he's like jack of all trades – attacking on the Champs-Elysees, wanting to win Flanders, Liege, Amstel…

"If you go through that process and get into the third week, the hardest week of the Tour de France where everyone starts to break, it's always where Jonas steps up and comes to his strongest.

"For UAE and Pogacar, taking the Classics away from him next year would be the hardest thing."