Remco Evenepoel‘s bid to become the first-ever rider to secure the Road World Championships elite men’s time trial and road race in a single year looked to be in serious trouble after the Belgian first was dropped on the ultra-steep Côte de Kigali by arch-rival Tadej Pogačar then needed two bike changes.
The multiple World Time Trial Champion and 2022 Road Race Champion first hit problems as he was dropped when 2024 winner Pogačar attacked on the Côte de Kigali and only Juan Ayuso (Spain) and Isaac del Toro (Mexico) could follow.
Whilst Del Toro and Pogačar then went clear alone and Evenepoel found himself in a third group, Belgium’s furious initial pursuit behind came badly unstuck as Evenepoel then suffered multiple mechanical difficulties.
A first bike change was relatively quick, with speculation rising that there could have been a saddle problem that caused him to be dropped on the hardest climb of the race.
But the second one, with Evenepoel first hammering at his bars then kicking into the air in anger as he waited long seconds – calculated at 42 by Sporza.be – behind for his team car to come up was another story.
The situation ended with the visibly frustrated Belgian nearly a minute behind the closest chasers and very definitely on the back foot when it came to the increasingly tough task of chasing down Pogačar.
Evenepoel was lucky to garner yet more support from Quinten Hermans to try to get back on terms, but an early abandon from team Ilan Van Wilder, one of his top teammates for the race after a crash, did not help his chase.
With 65 kilometres to go, the Belgian was still in the third group, making furious accelerations at the head of a small group of chasers and he further closed the gap to make it a minute behind Pogacar with 57 kilometres left to race.
However, fighting for gold was looking increasingly like an uphill task for the Slovenian’s top pre-race rival, perhaps even to fight for the medals. Meanwhile, in a repeat of Zurich 2024, Pogačar had dropped Del Toro and was heading away alone in a lone bid for a second road race title in as many years.
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