LIVE – World Cycling Championships: Pogacar escaped, Van der Poel and Evenepoel in the counter group

Stephen Williams, Ben Healy and Tom Skujins broke out of the pack.

Evenepoel and Van Der Poel ride at the head of the peloton to catch up with the leading duo.

There are still two laps remaining and 45 seconds separate the Pogacar-Sivakov duo and the peloton.

Evenepoel and McNulty attack in the peloton and reduce the gap with the breakaway.

Pogacar and Sivakov are 52 seconds ahead of the peloton. The Slovenian is currently riding

Pogacar attacked but decided to wait for Sivakov, his teammate for the year, at the front of the race.

The Belgians are riding at the head of the peloton which is only 42 seconds behind the leading men.

After joining the lead group, Pogacar is now making the descent.

Pogacar was joined by his teammate Jan Tratnik.

Pogacar is alone with 30 seconds ahead of the peloton but 52 behind the leading men.

Accompanied by the Italian Bagioli, Tadej Pogacar left the peloton 99 kilometers from the peloton.

The gap between the escapees and the peloton drops below two minutes almost 100 km from the finish.

The two groups came together. They are now 16 at the head of the race.

The peloton crosses the line 2 minutes and 54 seconds behind the leading men.

The second group should return to the first in the coming minutes. The peloton maintains the gap at more than 3 minutes.

The breakaway group with Foss, Oliveira, Dillier, Pekala, Wirtgen and Geschke are 1 minute ahead of De Plus, Tratnik, Cattaneo, Cort, Sivakov, Williams, Vine, Vermaerke, Lipowitz, Staune-Mittet. The peloton is 3 minutes 15 seconds behind.

The 2025 Worlds will take place in Kigali, Rwanda. This is the first time that the Worlds will take place in Africa. The 2026 edition will take place in Montreal in Canada and those of 2027 in Haute-Savoie in France.

The British Mark Donovan tried to break away from the peloton but without success. Attacks are currently increasing, notably with the Australian Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov and Laurens de Plus.

The Spaniard Pablo Castrillo broke away from the peloton and took a few meters in advance.

The leading men are now more than 4 minutes ahead of the peloton.

Mathieu Van der Poel is the defending champion of the Worlds road race. Remco Evenepoel won the race in 2022, succeeding Julian Alaphilippe, winner in 2021 and 2020. Peter Sagan is the last man to have won the race 3 times in a row, in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

After falling earlier, the Portuguese Joao Almeida gave up just like the Slovenian Matic Zumer who rode for many kilometers.

Remco Evenepoel leads the Belgian team today and is one of the outsiders in the race. Winner of the race two years ago, he will be helped by Tiesj Benoot, Tim Wellens and Laurens De Plus.

The race is calm at the moment. The breakaway maintains a lead of 3 minutes over the peloton.

After his victories in the Clasica San Sebastian and the Bretagne Classic, Marc Hirschi. Riding at home and encouraged by supporters ready to cheer him on, Hirschi can become the first Swiss world champion since Oscar Camenzind in 1998.

Switzerland hosted the Worlds for the last time in 2009. It was in Mendrisio and it was already with a course for punchers. It was the Australian Cadel Evans who won. He is the first Australian to have worn the rainbow jersey and the last non-European rider to have won the Worlds.

Since the first edition of the Worlds in 1927, 5 men have held the record for the number of victories: Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx, Oscar Freire and Peter Sagan have all won the road race 3 times.

As the race continues, runners should consider fueling. Michael Woods was spotted eating… out of a Tupperware in the middle of a race!

The race started at a very strong pace. The last hour of the race went at 44 km per hour.

The escapees always have a 5 minute lead. Slovenia leads the pack.

The Spaniard Mikel Landa and the Dane Mattias Skjelmose abandoned the road race at the Worlds.

Despite Alaphilippe’s abandonment, Blues coach Thomas Voeckler can find the solution while his best runner had to give up. He has already proven it during the previous world championships and then during the last Olympics.

Cycling: offensive philosophy, bluff, collective…How Thomas Voeckler (re)made France win (lefigaro.fr)

This is the third time that Zurich has hosted the World Championships after 1929 and 1946.

Blues coach Thomas Voeckler spoke to our colleagues at France Tv Sport. He indicated that his runner was “doing well but had a dislocated shoulder”.

The escapees return to the final circuit of 27 kilometers in and around Zurich, which they will have to complete seven times.

At 194 km from the finish, 3 men are in the lead: The Swiss Silvan Dillier, who is riding at home, the Norwegian Tobias Foss and the German Simon Geschke who are 2 minutes and 7 seconds ahead of the Estonian Markus Pajur and Puerto Rican Roberto Carlos Gonzalez. The peloton is 5 minutes and 32 seconds behind.

Big disappointment for the France team. Leader Julian Alaphilippe was caught in a fall after around fifty kilometers covered, and was forced to abandon. Thomas Voeckler, the manager of the Blues, indicated that his runner had dislocated his right shoulder. He was evacuated by ambulance.

With 273 km of racing and more than 4,300 meters of elevation gain, the road race of these Worlds should come down to a puncher.

Runners will have to go through a final circuit of 27 km in and around Zurich, to be completed 7 times.

The departure was given from Winterthur at 10:30 a.m., and the arrival in Zurich is scheduled for around 5:30 p.m.

Tadej Pogacar seems to be the main favorite in the race. Mathieu Van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel are the main outsiders.

Also readCycling: Pogacar, Evenepoel, Van der Poel… The favorites of the World Championship in detail (lefigaro.fr)

Welcome to this live commentary of the online race of the 2024 world championships, contested in Zurich.

Who will win the famous rainbow jersey?