🎥 Pogacar yelled for food, Evenepoel caused a commotion, and did Van der Poel escape disqualification?

Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel were the three top favorites for the World Championships, and they lived up to that role by finishing third, first, and fifth, respectively. The spotlight was on the trio all day, and in each case, an incident occurred as a result.

In the video below, you can see how Van der Poel narrowly missed a spectator about 60 kilometers from the finish. This happened when he was trying to overtake some riders in the group via the sidewalk. Van der Poel apparently chose the shortest route to respond to Marc Hirschi's attack.

That incident went without consequences, something we've seen differently in the past. Think of Luke Rowe, who was disqualified in the 2018 Tour of Flanders for riding on the sidewalk (or rather, the bike path). In the 2023 Tour of Flanders, Johan Price-Pejtersen was pulled from the race when he tried to gain positions off the road, which led to a major crash. Van der Poel caused no crashes and eventually sprinted to third place at the World Championships.

Read more below the video.

Pogacar is short a bottle and stressed out for a moment

Pogacar was, of course, the man of the day, becoming world champion after a 100.7-kilometer attack. He had super legs, but even Pogacar needs to keep fueling his engine to continue delivering. And so the cycling world held its breath for a moment when Pogi missed a bottle at the feed zone, 45 kilometers from the finish. He eventually got one, but it clearly wasn’t enough.

Pogacar signaled to the neutral car, and it soon became clear he needed the Slovenian team car to get an extra bottle and some food. In the final lap, the winner was clearly struggling, but perhaps it was that one gel that kept him from cramping.

Read more below the video.

Evenepoel frustrated with the Americans

Evenepoel finished fifth, but he did everything in his power to become world champion again. The Belgians rode full throttle for him at the front when Pogacar had broken away. And when his teammates were spent, Evenepoel took off himself. However, he didn’t get away, and so the group behind Pogacar stayed relatively intact. Evenepoel expressed his frustration as he passed the finish, aimed at the Americans, who still had some men left but refused to take the lead.

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