Can Tadej Pogacar catch Eddy Merckx’s rainbow record?

From the inaugural World Championships in 1927, won by Alfredo Binda at the Nürburgring, to this year’s edition in Kigali, won by Tadej Pogačar, 73 riders from 18 nations have claimed the elite men’s road race. Among those who have worn the rainbow jersey, some used it as a springboard for the most successful seasons of their careers, while others struggled under the weight of expectation.

To understand whether Pogačar can get close to Merckx’s all time record, this feature examines the riders with the most victories as world champion, and those who produced the biggest single season hauls while defending the jersey.

The UCI Time Trial World Championships were not introduced until 1994, and between 1994 and 1998 road race world champions were permitted to wear the rainbow jersey in time trials. For consistency, this list includes individual time trial wins, as well as defences of the rainbow jersey, using race statistics from ProCyclingStats.

Unsurprisingly, Eddy Merckx, the most decorated cyclist of all time, holds the record for the most wins as world champion. In each of the years following Merckx’s three World Championships wins, a bucket-load of further success followed, 69 in total.

Merckx’s first World Championship victory came in 1967, in Heerlen, Netherlands, where he was the fastest in a small group sprint to the line ahead of home rider Jan Janssen. In his first spell as world champion, Merckx racked up 19 victories, including his first Paris-Roubaix and Giro d’Italia victories. At the time, no rider had previously won more races as World Champion than Merckx did that season.

That fact didn’t last for too long, though, as Merckx would shatter his own record just four years later. In Mendrisio, Switzerland, in 1971, Merckx had to rely on his finishing speed to topple Felice Gimondi in a two-man sprint to the line. The Belgian phenomenon would go on to win 27 times during his second spell as World Champion. 

After winning Il Lombardia before the 1971 season rounded out, Merckx would go on to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne, before completing the Giro-Tour double, for the second time in his career, following 1970. During the Giro-Tour double in 1972, Merckx also picked up 11 stage wins.

Merckx’s final spell as world champion also garnered plenty more success. After winning his third rainbow jersey by beating Raymond Poulidor in Montréal, Canada, in 1974, Merckx would win 23 more times as world champion. 

This spell was Merckx’s most successful in the Classics in the rainbow jersey. The Cannibal won Milan-San Remo, Amstel Gold Race, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. 

Two stage wins at the Tour de France followed, but his fifth appearance also marked the first time the Belgian didn’t win the GC when starting the race, with Merckx having to settle for second behind Bernard Thévenet.

Ultimately, Merckx won three Grand Tours as the world champion, and also all five of the races considered the five modern-day monuments.

Considering that only three riders in history have won all five monuments at least once, Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, and Rik Van Looy, it’s remarkable to think that this statistic is still applicable to ‘the Cannibal’ when only including his wins in the rainbow jersey.

Although Merckx dominates the charts for the most wins as World Champion, he is comfortably beaten for the most victories during a single spell. That honour goes to his compatriot Freddy Maertens. 

At the 1976 World Championships in Ostuni, Italy, Maertens beat Francesco Moser to claim what would be the first of two rainbow jerseys in his career, adding the second in 1981.

Maertens' exploits in the following year, his World Championship triumph in 1976, are quite staggering. The Belgian claimed an incredible tally of 43 victories as world champion. In the final months of the 1976 season, the Belgian won five races before heading into the 1997 season in even more emphatic fashion. Omloop Het Volk followed by five stage wins and the GC at Paris-Nice were early highlights.

However, the standout performance was one of the most dominant Grand Tour displays. At the Vuelta a España, Maertens not only won the general classification, but he also claimed 13 stage wins and the points classification to go with it.

If that wasn’t enough, just five days after his Vuelta title was sealed, Maertens headed to Italy for the Giro d’Italia, where he would win seven stages. Ultimately, this meant that Maertens won 20 Grand Tour stages as world champion. A small difference compared to modern three-week races is that it wasn’t uncommon for split stages in Grand Tours back when Maertens won the Vuelta, but this doesn’t take away from the Belgian’s accomplishment. 

In stark contrast, Maertens's second spell as world champion after winning in 1981 in Prague saw no return, with zero victories. In fact, Maertens's World Championship win in Prague was the final professional success of his career on the road before retiring.

The 1970s saw a number of prolific world champions. Beyond Merckx and Maertens, Francesco Moser (20), who won the rainbow jersey in 1977, and Jan Raas (18) in 1979, also won racked up many races as defending world champions.

Peter Sagan won the World Championships three times in a row, and if you were to combine his consecutive victories across this period, the Slovakian achieved 34 wins,an impressive feat, but still significantly short of Maertens's accomplishment.

Between becoming World Champion for the first time in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2024, and the defence of his title in Kigali, Rwanda, twelve months later, Tadej Pogačar won 19 times, which places him in the upper echelons of prolific world champions.

The magnitude of Pogačar’s 19 victories during his first year as World Champion is sensational. The Slovenian is making a good fist of trying to join the exclusive club of riders to have won all five Monuments, and he might even emulate Merckx by doing so as world champion. 

In terms of major one-day races, the Slovenian won his fourth Il Lombardia, third Strade Bianche, second Tour of Flanders and Flèche Wallonne, and third Liège-Bastogne-Liège after winning the 2024 Worlds. He also added the Critérium du Dauphiné and his fourth Tour de France, with a plethora of stage wins along the way.

Since defending his title, Pogačar has a 100% win rate at the European Championships, Tre Valli Varesine, and a record-equalling fifth Il Lombardia, all with dominant solo efforts, indicating that he could improve on his record of 20 victories during his first stint as defending World Champion.

In total, Pogačar had 49 race days between his two World Championship victories, meaning that to eclipse the record set by Maertens, he would need to be almost invincible, thus illustrating the significance of the Belgian’s record.

In terms of catching Merckx's 69 victories total as World Champion, Pogačar still needs another 49 victories to eclipse the Belgian. He currently sits on 23 wins, and sixth overall, behind Maertens (43), Peter Sagan (34), Alfredo Binda (28), and Rik Van Looy (25).

But with two upcoming World Championship parcours that suit him perfectly, in Montreal in 2026 and Haute Savoie in 2027, and with the dominance he has shown over the past two seasons, it’s not unrealistic to think he might get very close.