Tadej Pogacar won the road race of the World Championships. The Slovenian launched his attack a hundred kilometers before the finish line and never saw his closest competitors again. Ben O'Connor finished second, ahead of a battling Mathieu van der Poel, who took bronze.
The riders began a sunny day on the bike. That differed on Saturday when Lotte Kopecky prolonged her title in the pouring rain. The men started their 274-kilometer ordeal from Winterthur, where the local lap with two challenging climbs marked the course. Seven times, the peloton would cross Zurichbergstrasse (1,100 meters with sections of 17 percent) and Witikonerstasses (2.3 kilometers at 5.7 percent). It was a course full of opportunities for climbers, but it remained unpredictable: anything was possible.
After a nervous opening phase, eight riders managed to get away, from which soon only six remained: home rider Silvan Dillier (Switzerland) was joined by Tobias Foss (Norway), Simon Geschke (Germany), Rui Oliveira (Portugal), Piotr Pekala (Poland) and Luc Wirtgen (Luxembourg) received leeway. With that, the day's breakaway was made, but the chaos was not over. After about fifty kilometers of racing, there was a crash. João Almeida and Pello Bilbao were in a lot of pain, but Julian Alaphilippe had to say goodbye to the World Championship with a shoulder injury. It was a huge loss so early in the race.
It wasn't the only outsider who had to leave the race in the first hundred kilometers. Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark's leader, injured his back before the start and dropped out. Mikel Landa also had to abandon the race after a crash, and Almeida also failed to recover after his crash. Thus, the race was marked by bad luck early on. Michael Matthews was also on the asphalt moments later. The Australian did not seem to have sustained any damage and could continue on his way.
Pogacar opens finale with a hundred kilometers to go
Halfway through the race, the race burst open. Jay Vine created a gap after an earlier acceleration by Spaniard Pablo Castrillo. The Australian got nine men with him: Pavel Sivakov (France), Stephen Williams (Great Britain), Florian Lipowitz (Germany), Magnus Cort (Denmark), Mattia Cattaneo (Italy), and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Norway), but it was mostly Laurens De Plus and Jan Tratnik who were prominent. Thus, the Belgians and the Slovenians had someone with them, but the Netherlands did not. With a hundred kilometers to go, the dangerous group joined the leading group, so we had sixteen men in front with a three-minute lead.
The Slovenians were up to something: they spotted a strong group where Tratnik was not the favorite. Therefore, they began to increase the pace. The lead dwindled quickly. At just over a hundred kilometers on Witikonerstrasse, it was time for Pogacar's unavoidable attack. At first, only Andrea Bagioli could follow, but the Slovenian was soon alone. With Tratnik's help, he bridged the gap to the leading group in no time. Behind, the Belgians took responsibility for the chase. Still, the Netherlands and Van der Poel kept quiet.
And so it was the Belgians who were forced to chase. Evenepoel, the co-favorite, did not join Pogacar and put his team in the lead. That limited the gap: one minute was the Slovenian's maximum lead. At the front, everyone left the work to the green brigade, and the Netherlands also started contributing. Thus, The lead decreased significantly, but the road quickly went up again, so Pogacar attacked immediately. On Zurichbergstrasse, only a strong Sivakov could keep up with him. The Slovenian liked his French teammate from UAE Team Emirates to be there, so he restrained for a while. So we had two leaders: the peloton followed at a minute.
Pogacar solo, Van der Poel chases
Behind the two at the front, it was all stop-and-go. We saw Van der Poel and Evenepoel's first action, but they didn't get away. A group was formed on the plateau on top of the Witikoner climb. Seventeen men, with Evenepoel, Van der Poel, and Mollema but also Matteo Jorgenson, Ben Healy, Jai Hindley, Enric Mas, David Gaudu, Mads Pedersen, and others. With two laps to go, Healy rode away, along with Oscar Onley and Toms Skujins. Behind them, Van der Poel began his pursuit. He sneaked away from the Evenepoel group and lost his fellow breakaway riders on the steepest sections. Meanwhile, Pogacar was solo: Sivakov was in trouble.
On the longer climb of the day, Van der Poel was having a hard time. He tried to connect with the chasers, but it was Evenepoel and his companions of fate who just got back to the Dutchman. Slowly but surely, the lone leader's lead increased. Onley, meanwhile, had been released from the chasers, so an Irishman and a Latvian joined in pursuit of a Slovenian. However, they didn't come any closer with the two of them. Thus, the winner of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France went into the final lap alone.
Pogacar shrugs, chasers behind find each other
Behind the solo hero, Hirschi put on his acceleration. He attacked the steepest strip of the day and immediately created a gap. The Swiss tried to get to the chasers, but the group behind was not far either. They came closer again: that was the point for Mas to leave. That one pulled away in one swoop to the Swiss before him. Behind was a battle between Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Quinn Simmons, Roger Adriá, Ben O'Connor, and Romain Bardet. Evenepoel frantically attempted to ride to the men before him; the defending champion jumped along. O'Connor also joined him there. Thus, the battle for the medals was still fascinating.
On top of the Witikonstrasse, Mas, and Hirschi joined the chasers, and the three behind them also returned. Gradually, the seven got closer to the Slovenian leader. He had reached the problematic plateau, where he could recuperate on the short descents. As a result, despite the excellent collaboration of the riders behind, he gained distance again. On the final stretch before the descent, Van der Poel made one last attack: he got Hirschi and Skujins with him. Evenepoel was utterly empty, and initially had to let him go. In the descent, however, everything came back together.
The chasers were fully engaged in the medal battle. Hirschi attacked on the final uphill stretch, but Healy countered. Nobody gave each other a meter; thus, Pogacar crossed the line solo. In the end, O'Connor was the smartest. The Australian attacked at the right moment and won silver. The bronze went to Van der Poel, who won the sprint for bronze. The defending champion thus earned a spot on the podium, a consolation prize.
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