Mathieu van der Poel knows a thing or two about the genre, but even he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing as Tadej Pogačar soloed to a crushing victory at the Road World Championships in Zürich.
On arriving in the press room on Sunday evening, Van der Poel could only smile when the question arrived. Pogačar’s exhibition, the Dutchman conceded, had been in a different register even to the remarkable lone effort that had carried him to the rainbow jersey in Glasgow last year.
“I went a bit later than Pogačar… It’s difficult to describe how strong he is,” said Van der Poel, who won the sprint for the bronze medal on a demanding course that most would have placed towards the upper limit of his capabilities on this terrain.
Van der Poel had struck a notably upbeat tone on arriving at his Worlds base in Wetzikon during the week, buoyed by a string of strong displays at the Tour of Luxembourg. He evinced quiet confidence that he could defend his title, even if he was keenly aware that Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel were the obvious favourites.
That thinking surely guided Van der Poel’s approach when Pogačar careered onto the offensive with 100km still to race. At that precise moment, Van der Poel found himself next to his sometimes training partner Evenepoel, and they both deemed it best to hope Pogačar punched himself out rather than respond immediately with blows of their own.
“I saw him going, but my plan was to try to save as much energy as possible,” Van der Poel said. “I think that’s normally the key to a good World Championships, to save your energy. When Belgium took control, I really thought they were going to close it. But I think in the end, Tadej was just too strong for everybody.
“I’m pretty sure if you ask Tadej, I don’t think that attack was his plan either. He was really strong, but when he went, I didn’t think he would make it, especially when Belgium was taking control, but he proved us all wrong.
“I thought he was throwing away his chances for a world champion’s jersey, because the situation was not ideal for him at that moment and his team was not really able to take control. I thought it was more a bit of a panic attack, but he was just so strong he could make it work until the end.”
No Lombardia
After bridging up to the break in the company of his Slovenian teammate Jan Tratnik, Pogačar forged clear with his UAE Team Emirates companion Pavel Sivakov (France). Pogačar was alone for the final 52km, while Van der Poel found himself with Evenepoel in a select but not entirely cohesive chasing group.
On the final lap, the chasers briefly drew heart when Pogačar’s lead began to contract, but he would pull away once more in the final 15km, consigning Van der Poel, et al, to race for second place. Ben O’Connor (Australia) clipped away for silver in the finale, while Van der Poel emphatically won the sprint for bronze ahead of Toms Skujins (Latvia), Evenepoel and Marc Hirschi (Switzerland).
“I think the smallest gap we saw on the board was 36 seconds and we thought Tadej was a bit on the end of his powers, but the next time it was 45 seconds, so we realised he was accelerating again,” said Van der Poel, who ultimately came in just under a minute down on Pogačar.
“I did one of my best performances ever, actually, so I can be really happy with it. There was just one rider who was exceptional, but if you take him away, I was almost riding for the world title, so I think I can be very happy with my bronze medal.”
Van der Poel’s level of performance in this company and on this terrain will inevitably invite speculation about his future prospects at races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia. He already placed third in Liège this year, after all, and that display came at the end of a long Classics campaign that had been centred on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“For sure, I was looking around and I only saw climbers in my group, but a one-day race is always something else,” Van der Poel said. “I think my main goal stays the same. Flanders and Roubaix are where my heart is, and I don’t want to give it up. It’s my terrain and I don’t want to give it up to try to win Liège or Lombardia.”
Indeed, Van der Poel dismissed reports that he would line out at Il Lombardia in two weeks’ time, with the Gravel World Championships the only race left on his calendar before thoughts turn to his cyclocross campaign.
“I don’t know where this information came from,” he said. “I only do gravel next week.”
The Pogačar Era
Once Van der Poel had recovered from his sprint on the shore of Lake Zurich, he made his way towards the scrum around Pogačar to offer his congratulations to the man who had just divested him of the rainbow jersey. He smiled when asked what he had said.
“I told him that he’s crazy. I know him already for a while now, and we get along pretty good,” Van der Poel said. “For me it’s nice when the best rider is world champion. He is the best rider at the moment, so it’s good that he wears the jersey.”
Last year, Van der Poel delivered one of the greatest athletic performances of his career at the Tour of Flanders only to be beaten into second place by an unassailable Pogačar. In Oudenaarde that evening, he had accepted the defeat with good grace, admitting that such disappointments were simply a reality of racing in what he called ‘the Pogačar era'.
Asked how long that era would continue, Van der Poel could only offer a shrug of resignation.
“No idea, but it seems like it’s just the beginning,” he said. “He’s stronger than ever, I would say.”
On Sunday’s evidence, who could disagree?
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