‘I thought he was throwing away his chances’ – Mathieu van der Poel stunned by Tadej Pogačar’s Worlds solo

Mathieu van der Poel knows a thing or two about the genre, but even he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing as Tadej Pogačar soloed to a crushing victory at the Road World Championships in Zürich.

On arriving in the press room on Sunday evening, Van der Poel could only smile when the question arrived. Pogačar’s exhibition, the Dutchman conceded, had been in a different register even to the remarkable lone effort that had carried him to the rainbow jersey in Glasgow last year.