Legendary French manager, and one of the best spotters and developers of talent in cycling for decades, Cyril Guimard believes the best young riders in the sport at present are on a higher level than Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.
Guimard singled out Tadej Pogačar as the pick if the crop, but only because he needed to see more of Remco Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock before he could absolute confirm they were on the same level.
With Pogačar has already won the Tour de France aged 21 years, finished 3rd in La Vuelta aged 20 years and won three stages in it and also won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But while he has had the most prolific start to his career, Guimard believes both Pidcock and Evenepoel can win the Tour.
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Guimard told Cyclism’Actu that apart from Pogačar’s results,
he was very impressed with how fluid and effortless his style always seemed to
be.
“It’s quite funny to see,” he said of the Slovenian’s style. “There was Hinault, Merckx; is he the same calibre as these legends? Given his record I would even say that he is above it. He is only 22 years old and has already won the Tour, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and came third in the Vuelta at 20, in which he also won three stages.”
Between 1976 and 2017 he managed top pro teams Gitane–Campagnolo, Renault–Gitane–Campagnolo, Système U, Castorama, Cofidis and the French national team. Three of his riders won the Tour; Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe. He was also a former pro rider and won seven stages of the Tour de France.
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He said before the sport could conclude Pogačar was the best of young riders, indeed the best in the world, we would have to assess Evenepoel more when he returns from injury and also seen more of Pidcock.
“Before this fall, Evenepoel was undefeated, he had won
all the races in which he had participated. So let’s wait and see Evenepoel
come back to his best level, and if he comes back to his best level, who will
be able to beat him?
“We know his qualities in the mountains and in the time trial… but he struggles downhill, and I think his fall in Lombardia will not help matters. But if he learns to descend and he no longer has this weakness, it will be difficult to trap him. So Pogačar or Evenepoel? We will wait a little bit. And let’s not condemn Egan Bernal either.”
Guimard also said Pidcock had been so impressive as a
junior and U23 and had excelled in the last couple of months, when he made his
debut at WorldTour level with Ineos Grenadiers.
“Is he capable of winning several Grand Tours, why not?
Let us not forget that he is only 21 years old and his track record is already
very, very rich. He won Paris-Roubaix in the juniors and in the U23s, which
already ranks the talent of this rider, but he also won the baby Giro by dropping
everyone.
“And he’s a boy who is right behind Van Aert and Van der
Poel in cyclocross today. He can do practically everything, now he’s even going
to go mountain biking for fun.
“The problem is that today there is competition in the Grand Tours with Bernal, Pogačar and Evenepoel, who are also all very young. There are several riders of the same generation who can all win the Tour over the next ten years.
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