Tadej Pogačar turned in yet another performance for the ages at the elite men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday, securing his second gold in the category in as many years with a trademark solo long-distance breakaway in Kigali, Rwanda.
Having first opened up the throttle on the dauntingly difficult Mont Kigali and caused the field to shatter behind him, the Slovenian then dropped the last rider to stay on his wheel, Isaac del Toro (Mexico), with 66 kilometres left and headed away for another epic lone win.
Slovenia’s Pogačar finally crossed the finish line with over a minute’s advantage over Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), who staged a remarkable comeback following numerous mechanical difficulties to claim silver. Ben Healy (Ireland) dropped Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark) on the final climb to take the bronze medal.
But if Evenepoel’s ability to turn misfortune into an honourable podium position could not be ignored, neither could Pogačar’s latest stunning success, following up a fourth Tour de France title this summer with a second World Championships victory.
His latest triumph, too, further confirmed his hegemony as the world’s number one, and – coming on a course widely rated as the most difficult World Championships course ever – propelled Pogačar even closer to the unofficial title of cycling’s all-time greatest in history.
Asked about why he had launched his first attack, so early, with 105 kilometres to go, Pogačar answered, “I think the course was designed for this, but I was hoping that a small group would form, like we did with Juan [Ayuso, Spain] and [Isaac] Del Toro [Mexico]. It was a perfect combo’.”
After breaking away with two trade teammates from UAE Team Emirates, Pogačar said,
“I was like – this is a dream, no, to ride together as far as possible, as a trio, but Juan had a problem like soon on the Mur and Del Toro had some stomach problems in the race.”
As for whether he had moments of doubt in what looked, from the outside, to be such a convincing performance, Pogačar said, “For sure. Because the climbs were getting harder and harder on every lap, but on the downhills, I had to pedal a lot too. Towards the end, the energy resources were going.”
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