‘Tadej this year is not normal’ – Remco Evenepoel has no answer for Pogačar at Worlds

When Tadej Pogačar delivered his opening statement with 100km still to race at the World Championships in Zurich, Remco Evenepoel felt it wasn’t prudent to respond immediately. He wasn’t to know it at the time, but that was where the discussion ended.

A Worlds that had been billed in some quarters as a back-and-forth between Evenepoel and Pogačar instead turned into a monologue. While Pogačar delivered his latest solo recital off the front, Evenepoel found himself as part of a discordant chasing group. He would eventually place fifth, 58 seconds down on the Slovenian.