Within three weeks they have reached 8 monuments, entered the world top ten and are aiming to climb the podium and get as close as possible to Eddy Merckx.

Mathieu Van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar are now tied at 8 monuments conquered in their careers: two Tours of Flanders, two Liège and four Lombardy for the Slovenian; two Milan-San Remo, three Tours of Flanders and three Paris-Roubaix for the Dutchman.

The two giants of modern cycling have reached Rik Van Looy, one of only three cyclists in history capable of winning the five monument races. Ahead of them, at 9, are Girardengo, Coppi and Kelly, then at 11 De Vlaeminck and at 19 the unreachable Cannibal, the latter two also capable of completing the full set.

We know well that these are statistics and numbers must be interpreted, because in different periods of their history the five monument races were not considered as such, they had moments of splendor and others of lesser relevance and that only in modern times has the term "Monument Classic" become commonly used, but it is still an interesting statistic that helps us understand even more how great what Van der Poel and Pogacar are doing. And if we add to this data "how" they are doing it, it becomes easy to understand that we are living in a truly golden era of our sport.

Another impressive statistic, this time focused on the two giants and therefore of even greater, almost absolute value:

Mathieu Van der Poel has competed in 21 monument classics, won 8, been on the podium 6 times, finished in the top ten 6 times, and only once - at his debut in the 2020 San Remo - finished 13th.

Tadej Pogacar has competed in 18 monument classics, won 8, been on the podium 4 times, and finished outside the top 10 twice: 18th in 2019 at his first Liège and 12th in 2020 at his first San Remo, just ahead of Van der Poel. He also ridered in the 2023 Liège after a crash where he fractured his scaphoid.

MONUMENT RANKINGS

Eddy Merckx 19 (7 San Remo, 2 Flanders, 3 Roubaix, 5 Liège and 2 Lombardy)

Roger De Vlaeminck 11 (3 San Remo, 1 Flanders, 4 Roubaix, 1 Liège and 2 Lombardy)

Constante Girardengo 9 (6 San Remo and 3 Lombardy)
Fausto Coppi 9 (3 San Remo, 1 Roubaix and 5 Lombardy)
Sean Kelly 9 (2 San Remo, 2 Roubaix, 2 Liège and 3 Lombardy)

Rik Van Looy 8 (1 San Remo, 2 Flanders, 3 Roubaix, 1 Liège and 1 Lombardy)
Tadej Pogačar 8 (2 Flanders, 2 Liège and 4 Lombardy)
Mathieu Van der Poel 8 (2 San Remo, 3 Flanders and 3 Roubaix)

Gino Bartali 7 (4 San Remo and 3 Lombardy)
Tom Boonen 7 (3 Flanders and 4 Roubaix)
Fabian Cancellara 7 (1 San Remo, 3 Flanders and 3 Roubaix)

Henri Pélissier 6 (1 San Remo, 3 Roubaix and 2 Lombardy)
Alfredo Binda 6 (2 San Remo and 2 Lombardy)
Fred De Bruyne 6 (1 San Remo, 1 Flanders, 1 Roubaix and 3 Liège)
Francesco Moser 6 (1 San Remo, 3 Roubaix and 2 Lombardy)
Moreno Argentin 6 (1 Flanders, 4 Liège and 1 Lombardy)
Johan Museeuw 6 (3 Flanders and 3 Roubaix)

Philippe Gilbert 5 (1 Flanders, 1 Roubaix, 1 Liège and 2 Lombardy)
Gaetano Belloni 5 (3 San Remo and 3 Lombardy)
Rik Van Steenbergen 5 (1 San Remo, 2 Flanders and 2 Roubaix)
Bernard Hinault 5 (1 Roubaix, 2 Liège and 2 Lombardy)
Michele Bartoli 5 (1 Flanders, 2 Liège and 2 Lombardy)
Paolo Bettini 5 (1 San Remo, 2 Liège and 2 Lombardy)