Why the new Merckx didn't step up yet?

Eddy Merckx turns 80, this year. His surname does not only refer to him personally, but it also became a term by itself. Already for decades, the cycling world has been searching for a 'new Merckx'. Someone who could equalize or even surpass the greatest of all time. How did this journey start? How did it evolve through the decades? and why it's unlikely that we will see a successor again in this decade? Through this article we summarize a hunt of about 50 years on a new rider who could set his foot next to the absolute best.

The term

The new Merckx originates mostly from the domestic Belgian press. Already in his last years as a pro, newspapers quoted the talented Freddy Maertens as his possible successor. Maertens would win World titles, a grand tour and monuments in his career but he could never meet the quantity of Eddy Merckx and his career knew many highs & lows. But the hunt for a new succesor wouldn't stop already after him.

In the 1990s, the all round talent Frank Vandenbroucke was seen as a new possible succesor. The charismatic young rider managed to win Gent-Wevelgem, Paris-Nice and Liège-Bastogne-Liège already before turning 25, showing his versatile profile. But he could never bring consistency in his career. The big expectations from the media and his mental vulnerability became the start of his downfall. Vandenbroucke started to deliver inconsistent results and also commited suicide attempts in the years after. He would die at the age of 34, far from home in a hotel in Senegal. 

The years after, there was no clear all round succesor anymore but multipe riders got the label as new 'Tour de France hope', sometimes at a very young age. When Remco Evenepoel stepped up, Merckx started to get a more natural successor again. They both came from Brussels and shared their agressive style of racing on multiple terrains. At the age of 25, Remco Evenepoel won La Vuelta, 2 Olympic titles and 2 World titles and 2 monuments, bringing hope to the nation for even more successes.

Expansion abroad

The term also started to gain more attention on the international stage as well. Not necessarily because they had compassion to desperate Belgian fans, but by the increased attention for cycling stories & statistics by the main stream media. News outlets started to focus more on lists & statistics than in prior decades when there was less focus on writing about legacy and archiving of stories for a longer term. 

The most recent well known example has been Tadej Pogacar. His versatility, hunger and dominance reminds many fans of heroic stories about Merckx. At the age that Pogacar has now, Eddy Merckx already won all monuments and more World titles & grand tours that Pogacar has won so far. Of course conclusions can only be made when Pogacar or another possible succesor finishes his carreer, but it shows how big the gap still is, knowing that Merckx still won more big races after this age as well.

Why a successor is unlikely in this decade

The odds that someone will equalize or surpass Merckx in the current decade is unlikely. Eddy Merckx rode 3 times more races than riders are doing today, reducing their chances to book the same quantity of victories in a season. Merckx also rode all monuments, 2 grand tours and the Worlds by default, making it also hard for most riders to equalize him in only that already. Even when a rider could equalize his amount of victories in those big races, we should not forget that the former pro cyclist also won many races on the track, a few in cyclocross and set a long lasting World Hour record as well. Cycling might develop an equally talented rider but the current trends of reduced race days and more focus on specific goals are not favourable to equalize the stats of 'the Cannibal'. Even in previous decades, succesful versatitle riders like Bernard Hinault, Fransesco Moser or Sean Kelly couldn't claim the title of 'Greatest of all time'. A new Merckx does not only need an equally talented rider but also a whole system change for cycling as a whole.