Fifty-two years after he claimed his third Road World Championships title in the streets of Montreal, cycling legend Eddy Merckx believes the odds of a repeat success for Belgium in Canada on Sunday are high, particularly given the absence of the all-conquering Tadej Pogačar.
The 81-year-old Belgian told RTBF that he felt that with Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert, his country's side had two major cards to play in the elite men's race. Evenepoel has already won the Worlds back in 2022 and finished second last year, whilst Van Aert finished silver in the same event in Imola in 2020.
Looking at Belgium's chances of success on Sunday, Pogačar's non-participation was "good news" for their options on gold, Merckx said, which he put as high as 50%.
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However, he warned that as the top favourites given Pogačar's absence, the Belgians would find themselves under a great deal of pressure. Furthermore, controlling the race, particularly given the presence of in-form rivals like Mathieu van der Poel for the Netherlands, would be difficult.
"I think we have a great chance of success," Merckx, the winner of the Road Worlds in 1967, 1971 and 1974, told RTBF .
"When you look at how Remco Evenepoel became the World Time Trial Champion last Sunday and given we've also got Wout van Aert" - winner of two stages and the points classification in the Vuelta a España - "that gives us two key assets to start with."
However, Merckx warned that rivals as dangerous as Van der Poel, Paul Seixas (France) and Isaac del Toro (Mexico), the latter a recent winner of the GP Montreal, could make life difficult for the Belgians "and that's not counting all the outsiders. But we've got 50% chances of seeing a Belgian become World Champion, which isn't bad at all."
Pogačar's absence represented a major gamechanger, Merckx said, because "with him we'd have been fighting for silver." At the same time, without the double defending champion on the startlline, Belgium would have to step up their game.
"If there's a Belgian in the break, he shouldn't work, no doubt about that," Merckx said, presumably given the strong chances of success for Evenepoel and Van Aert to then make their move. Furthemore, the possible presence of a top favourite like Van der Poel - who put on a stunningly long breakaway move in the Tour de Luxembourg last week - in such an attack would also call for quick decisions.
Perhaps remembering how back in 1974 a rider as dangerous as France's Bernard Thévenet got away alone for 100 kilometres and was only caught seven kilometres from the line, Merckx warned, "if the break then gets a lot of time, they'll be hard to pull back."
All in all, the 2026 elite men's World Championships looks like an excellent opportunity for Belgium, then. But as Merckx warned, the abundance of different scenarios means that nothing could be taken for granted.
Come what may, though, watching how Belgium try to bring home a gold medal in the same city where Merckx took one of his finest-ever triumphs - outsprinting Raymond Poulidor in a two-up duel for a record-equalling third rainbow jersey - 52 years ago will certainly be one of the major plotlines on Sunday's race.
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