Sunday’s elite men’s road race at the Road World Championships in Kigali is one of the most anticipated races of the year, as the whole world looks on to see who will don the coveted rainbow jersey.
The men’s road race course in Kigali is being touted as one of the hardest in history, with multiple laps of a hilly, city circuit packing in 6,000m of climbing across 268km. Not only that, but the whole race will be at altitude, with the central parts of Kigali sitting at 1,500m above sea level, and Mount Kigali taking the peloton even higher up.
With the repeated, almost constant climbing, and one of the climbs, the Côte de Kimihurura, the route has the characteristics of a climbing Classic, with tough, exciting racing expected on Sunday.
With such a difficult course and conditions, the men’s road race is set to draw out only the strongest winners to be in contention for winning. One of the best climbers and one-day racers of his generation, defending world champion Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) is a big favourite to defend his title, though Remco Evenepoel‘s (Belgium) emphatic time trial win has boosted his stocks.
Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)
There is one stand-out favourite for the men’s road race title, and that is defending world champion Tadej Pogačar. The current rainbow jersey has been the favourite for this race pretty much since the route was announced, with the hilly course in Kigali suiting his abilities, and his dominant performances in similar races – including the World Champs last year – making it clear that he can win races like this pretty much at will.
His stock took a small hit on Sunday when he showed some weaknesses in the elite men’s time trial, finishing fourth after being caught by winner Remco Evenepoel, but for a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…