Even aggressive roadside fans could not stop Tadej Pogačar from winning at the European Championships road race on Sunday, with the Slovenian deciding that attack was the best form of defence after the Belgian and French teams tried to isolate him with 80km to go.
The Rhone Valley climbs in southeast France were packed with largely well-behaved fans, but some were aggressive towards Pogačar and even seemed to find it fun to slap stickers on his back, not understanding the need to respect the riders and prioritise their safety.
Pogačar did not appear to notice and powered on alone to victory, finishing 31 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and 3:41 ahead of 19-year-old French revelation Paul Seixas. Pogačar pulled on the white European champion’s jersey on the podium but will never race in it as his World Champion's rainbow jersey takes precedence under UCI rules.
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"With a little pain and suffering, I’m super happy and proud we could pull it off again with the national team," Pogačar said post-race.
"For me, it's quite an important title. It's not the same level as Worlds, but the jersey is super nice. A lot of riders and races are from Europe, so it was a tough field – it means a lot."
Pogačar added the European title to his world title won in Rwanda a week ago, his fourth Tour de France victory and multiple Classics wins in 2025.
He will next ride Tuesday’s Tre Valli Varesine race in Italy and then target a record fifth consecutive victory at Il Lombardia on Saturday as his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team near 100 season victories.
"Every year I say to myself it's my next season so far, but then next year comes and it's a better season. But soon enough, there will be a moment where I won't be able to top it off," Pogačar said modestly.
"I'm over the moon with every season I've done, and this year is no exception. I realize that I'm lucky to be able to win all these races.
"If I get the chance for some other experiences, like this year in Paris-Roubaix, it would be a dream to win those races too."
The Slovenian team controlled the 202km European Championships for the first half of the race, but then Belgium and France tried to isolate Pogačar on the final climb of Saint Romain de Lerps before the easier finishing circuits.
Pogačar sensed he had to take control and attack to avoid being outnumbered later in the race. When Evenepoel was unable to follow him on the climb, he pushed on alone, carefully pacing his effort to hold off the chase group that formed and then disintegrated behind him.
"It wouldn't have been the best thing to go over the big climb and have many strong guys that could counterattack. I didn't want to risk being alone, so I tried to go on the attack," Pogacer explained.
"You need to measure the effort really well, especially when the guys are riding together. Then Remco unleashed himself and tried to catch me.
"He's so good and on the flat in the headwind, he can be so aerodynamic and fast, I never knew if he was coming close or not, so tough to maintain the gap, it was a hard one to judge. That's why I'm so happy to win."
