Victory machine Pogačar: Where does the Tour champion stand in the all-time cycling leaderboard?
Tadej Pogačar continues his impressive run of victories in professional cycling. With his overall victory at the Tour de France 2025, the exceptional Slovenian athlete collected his 104th professional victory, moving up another place. Pogačar's winning streak during the Tour de France 2025 catapults him into illustrious company. With 104 victories, he overtakes Italian cycling legend Costante Girardengo in the all-time leaderboard. What is particularly remarkable is the young age at which the three-time Tour de France winner reached this mark. Many of the riders ahead of him in the rankings took much longer to achieve a comparable number of victories.
Pogačar is more versatile than almost any other
By comparison, five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault ended his career with 146 victories, but needed a much longer active period to do so. Modern sprint greats such as Mark Cavendish (165 victories) or André Greipel (158 victories) also achieved their figures over more than a decade. Pogačar's versatility allows him to win in a wide variety of race formats. From one-day classics to stage races and Grand Tours - the Slovenian is capable of triumphing in almost any racing situation.
At the top of the all-time leaderboard is still the legendary Eddy Merckx with an impressive 279 victories. A mark that was long considered unattainable. But in view of Pogačar's rapid development, at least a push into the top 10 most successful drivers seems realistic.
The most successful cyclists in history by victories* - The top 25
- Eddy Merckx - 279 victories
- Mark Cavendish - 165 victories
- Mario Cipollini - 163 victories
- Roger De Vlaeminck - 162 victories
- Sean Kelly - 159 wins
- Rik Van Looy - 159 victories
- André Greipel - 158 victories
- Alessandro Petacchi - 149 victories
- Erik Zabel - 149 victories
- Freddy Maertens - 148 victories
- Francesco Moser 147 victories
- Bernard Hinault 146 victories
- Giuseppe Saronni 144 victories
- Laurent Jalabert 139 victories
- Alejandro Valverde 133 victories
- Miguel Poblet 129 victories
- Domingo Perurena 124 victories
- Tom Boonen 122 victories
- Peter Sagan 121 victories
- Jacques Anquetil 121 victories
- Delio Rodríguez 117 victories
- Jaan Kirsipuu 115 wins
- Robbie McEwen 113 victories
- Tadej Pogačar - 104 victories
- Costante Girardengo 100 wins
*Source: Procyclingstats.com - only professional victories are counted, team time trials are not included in the statistics.
