Australia’s Ben O’Connor topped an excellent season by finishing second, 34 seconds behind, adding another medal to the gold he had won in the mixed relay. Van der Poel finished a courageous third, 58 seconds adrift.
With this win, which capped an extraordinary season, Pogačar accomplished a historical feat, becoming only the third male rider to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championship Road Race all in the same year, and the first since Stephen Roche in 1987. (There’s a move afoot among some commentators to refer to this feat as “The Triple.” But there is only one true “Triple” in cycling and that’s the Triple Crown of Grand Tour wins, the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta.)
To make history, Pogačar had a little help from his friends. First from fellow Slovenian Jan Tratnik who was part of a strong ten-rider breakaway that included Jay Vine of Australia, the French rider Pavel Sivakov, Germany’s Florian Lipowitz and the Briton Stevie Williams. It was this breakaway that prompted Pogačar’s insane adventure.
Given the fact that there were no team radios allowed during the race, it’s unclear how Tratnik heard that his team leader was coming his way; perhaps he was tipped by a roadside staff member. In any case, he slowed and waited for Pogačar, then led him to the breakaway. The Slovenian left that group behind with 78 km left in the race but, again, he was not alone. His UAE Team Emirates teammate Sivakov joined him and helped him open a gap on his main rivals that reached 1:25 at one point.
But with 51 km left to ride, the Frenchman could no longer keep the pace and Pogačar carried on alone. No problem, it was only 51 km; at the Strade Bianche in early March, he rode solo for 81 km to win the race.
Was there ever any doubt about Pogačar’s victory? Well, yes. With 17 km to go, a six-rider pursuing group that included van der Poel and Evenepoel had reduced a once invincible-looking gap to 35 seconds. And Pogačar was struggling and looked stressed.
Nevertheless, he gathered what remained of his strength and gradually increased his lead, which took the wind out of the sails of the pursuers. As Spain’s Enric Mas, who finished eighth, put it: “For a moment, we thought he was busted because we got to 35 seconds. But then, suddenly, he picked up another 15 seconds in 2 kilometres. Then we knew we had to race for second place.”
That gave Pogačar the time to slow down as he approached the finish line to accept the plaudits of the crowd and celebrate his victory. “I can’t believe what has happened,” he told Eurosport after the race. “After this sort of season, I put a lot of pressure on myself for today. The race unfolded pretty quickly. There was a dangerous breakaway in the front and I maybe did a stupid attack but luckily, Jan was there with me. I never gave up until the final. It was an incredible day.”
Asked if it had been the plan to attack from so far out, Pogačar said, “Of course not. We had plans to keep the race under control but the race went quite early and I don’t know what I was thinking. But I went with the flow and luckily I made it.”
He added that winning the rainbow jersey had been a goal for the first time this year. “After many years [of] fighting [in] the Tour de France and other races, I never had the World Championship as a clear goal. But this year, everything went smoothly already. After the perfect season, it was a really big goal to win the World Championship – and I can’t believe it happened.”
At a later press conference, he addressed the death of the 18-year-old Swiss cyclist Muriel Furrer who died in hospital after crashing in Thursday’s Junior Women’s Road Race. “First of all, I want to say that it is especially terrible for Muriel’s loved ones. It is a great loss for the cycling world. Everyone at the start of the races on Saturday and Sunday was with Muriel in their thoughts. It’s a tragedy but it’s hard to say what to do. Cycling is a dangerous sport and too much has happened in recent years; it’s obviously getting more dangerous. We have to look out for each other.”
As for his rivals, they were clearly caught by surprise when Pogačar made his winning move. “I saw it happen when he rode away,” van der Poel said. “I actually thought he was throwing away his chances of the world title but it turned out that wasn’t the case.” Evenepoel was just as astonished, telling VTM: “I honestly didn’t expect it to happen so early, I thought it was a suicide attempt.”
But Evenepoel never seemed to have the legs to win this race and was often frustrated by the reluctance of other riders to take up the pursuit. He was riding at the end of the peloton and so was caught out when Pogačar took off. He never recovered.
If he had won, he would have become the first male rider to win the Olympics and World Championship road races in the same year and the first rider of any gender to win the “golden double-double,” both the ITT and road race at both events in the same year. That historic feat will now have to wait until next year.
Elite Men’s Road Race World Championship Top 10
1. Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia 06:27:30
2. Ben O’Connor, Australia +34 seconds
3. Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands +58
4. Tom Skujins, Latvia same time
5. Remco Evenepoel, Belgium s.t.
6. Marc Hirschi, Switzerland s.t.
7. Ben Healy, Ireland +1:00
8. Enric Mas, Spain +1:01
9. Quinn Simmons +2:18
10. Romain Bardet, France s.t.
