Marc Hirschi must be content with a 6th place in the world road championship in Zurich. Already winner of the Giro and the Tour de France this year, Tadej Pogacar scored a fabulous hat-trick by adorning himself in gold on Sunday at Sechseläutenplatz.
Pogacar performed a high-wire act by boarding more than 100 km from the finish to score a hat-trick that only Eddy Merckx (in 1974) and Stephen Roche (in 1987) had achieved so far. The Slovenian won his first world title at the age of 26, succeeding the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel on the list.
In bronze in 2020 at Imola, Marc Hirschi could only note the superiority of his teammate at UAE. The Bernese tried everything in the final, but he could do nothing against the mischief of the Australian Ben O’Connor (2nd) and the burst of speed of van der Poel (3rd). Neither does double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (5th).
Behind his leader Marc Hirschi, Thurgau rider Stefan Küng (37th at 7’01) is the only other representative of Swiss Cycling to have reached the finish on Sechseläutenplatz. Silvan Dillier, Johan Jacobs, Fabian Lienhard and Mauro Schmid, however, retired.
“Not the planned plan”
“I don’t know what went through my head,” reacted Tadej Pogacar. This was obviously not the plan planned at the start but the race opened up quickly, with a dangerous breakaway ahead. Maybe it was stupid of me. Fortunately I got there. I can’t believe what just happened.”
“I put enormous pressure on myself. I had made this title a big goal after a perfect season. It’s incredible,” said the Slovenian, 3rd in Glasgow last year, who celebrated his 23rd victory in 55 days of racing this year on Sunday. A phenomenal ratio considering that this includes a bunch of flat stages.
His track record is growing day by day. He has four Grand Tours, including three Tours de France, six Monuments and a world title for a colossal total of 86 victories. Paris-Roubaix, Milan-Sanremo, the Vuelta and an Olympic title are the last major races missing from the list of those who aspire to become the greatest of all time.
Dillier among the first attackers
The Swiss team went all out, Silvan Dillier being part of the first breakaway of six riders which started the hostilities. This sextet still had a lead of almost five minutes 170 km from the end, before a counter-attack of ten men set up 130 kilometers from the finish.
The junction was made when there remained well over 100 km to go. But this Zurich world championship took another turn just a few minutes later when the big favorite Tadej Pogacar attacked on the climb to Witikon, where the slope reaches 20%. 101 km from the finish.
Hirschi tried everything
Expected by his compatriot Jan Tratnik, “Pogi” quickly reached the front of the race and (re)went on the offensive some 80 km from the finish. Accompanied initially by his everyday UAE teammate Pavel Sivakov, he found himself alone 51 km from the finish.
Mathieu van der Poel was the first to react among the other big names, but the Dutchman did not insist. Marc Hirschi, for his part, attacked for the first time on the last climb of the Züribergstrasse, 22 km from the finish, simply causing a grouping behind Pogacar.
The Bernese did it again on the climb to Zollikon, 5 km from the finish, in vain. He had to let Ben O’Connor slip away, who went to collect the silver after 6h30 of effort (and 34” behind Pogacar), and quickly understood that Mathieu van der Poel (3rd at 58”) was the fastest among the six bronze candidates.
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