Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, 26 years old since September 21, became world road cycling champion on the Zurich circuit (Switzerland) this Sunday. He won solo after a breakaway of nearly 100 kilometers out of the 277 on the program. “Pogi” achieved the famous Giro – Tour – world championship hat trick in the same year, a feat that only the Belgian Eddy Merckx (1974) and the Irishman Stephen Roche (1987) had achieved before him. He dons the rainbow tunic for the first time.
The Australian Ben O’Connor, 2nd at 33 seconds, and the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, outgoing world champion who settled a small group at 58 seconds, complete the podium.
Sivakov followed, before being let go
Pogacar may have been the huge favorite of the race, even ahead of the double Olympic champion of Paris, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, no one suspected that he would crash 102 kilometers from the goal, even further than during his first victory of the year, on the Strade Bianche (81 km solo). Visibly annoyed by the attacks of his opponents, the particularly proud Slovenian ended up taking the lead himself, helped by his compatriot Jan Tratnik, and joining a small group which had just broken away. He then placed a second banderilla that only his usual teammate at UAE Team Emirates, the Frenchman Pavel Sivakov, was able to follow, before giving up (at 51 km) and finishing far from the best.
With a maximum lead of one minute and thirty seconds, Pogacar seemed stuck in the last twenty kilometers, and the counter group, led by Evenepoel, closed to 38 seconds. But these pursuers observed each other, Evenepoel in turn got annoyed and the insolent Slovenian found renewed energy in the finale.
23rd World Tour victory this year, no team does better
In the World Tour, the leader of UAE Team Emirates will have won almost everything this year, from the Stade Bianche in February to the Montreal GP in mid-September (23 victories, all on the main circuit including these Worlds, no other team does better ). He only let the Olympic title slip away. But after winning his third Tour de France, he skipped the Paris meeting at the beginning of August, out of fatigue as much as out of distrust of the Slovenian selection which had not selected his girlfriend for the Olympic races.
The first Frenchman on the finish line is Romain Bardet (11th), who was playing his last World Championships at almost 34 years old since he will retire in June 2025. The Blues quickly found themselves orphaned by Julian Alaphilippe, who had fallen from the first hour of the race.
