Road World Championships: Unstoppable Tadej Pogačar seals consecutive men’s road race victories after 66km solo break

Tadej Pogačar turned in yet another performance for the ages at the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday, securing his second gold in the category in as many years with a trademark solo long-distance breakaway in Kigali, Rwanda.

Having first opened up the throttle on the dauntingly difficult Mont Kigali and caused the field to shatter behind him, the Slovenian then dropped the last rider to stay on his wheel, Isaac del Toro (Mexico), with 66 kilometres left and headed away for another epic lone win.

Slovenia's Pogačar finally crossed the finish line with over a minute's advantage over Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), who staged a remarkable comeback following numerous mechanical difficulties to claim silver. Ben Healy (Ireland) dropped Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark) on the final climb to take the bronze medal.

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But if Evenepoel's ability to turn misfortune into an honourable podium position could not be ignored, neither could Pogačar's latest stunning success, following up a fourth Tour de France title this summer with a second World Championships victory.

His latest triumph, too, further confirmed his hegemony as the world's number one, and - coming on a course widely rated as the most difficult World Championships course ever - propelled Pogačar even closer to the unofficial title of cycling's all-time greatest in history.

Asked about why he had launched his first attack so early, with 105 kilometres to go, Pogačar answered, "I think the course was designed for this, but I was hoping that a small group would form, like we did with Juan [Ayuso, Spain] and [Isaac] Del Toro [Mexico]. It was a perfect combo'."

After breaking away with two trade teammates from UAE Team Emirates, Pogačar said, "I was like - this is a dream, no, to ride together as far as possible, as a trio, but Juan had a problem like soon on the Mur and Del Toro had some stomach problems in the race."

"So I was left alone quite early, and I was solo, fighting by myself, but I'm so happy I made it."

As for whether he had moments of doubt in what looked, from the outside, to be such a convincing performance, Pogačar said, "For sure. Because the climbs were getting harder and harder on every lap, but on the downhills, I had to pedal a lot too. Towards the end, the energy resources were going."

"It was so hard, the last final laps. Of course, you doubt, but you have to push through and hope for the best."

Victorious for the second year running in Africa's first-ever Road World Championships, Pogačar rounded off by saying - with some considerable understatement - "It was an incredible experience altogether. Let's say it was a successful week."

How it unfolded

The opening move of the day came after just 500 metres courtesy of Red Walters, Grenada's sole representative in the 92nd edition of the World Championships Road Race. But in a high-octane start, Walters was quickly succeeded by a much more numerous move containing Andrea Foldager (Denmark), Menno Huising (Netherlands), Ivo Oliveira (Portugal), Fabio Christen (Switzerland), and Marius Mayrhofer (Germany). The six were then joined by Julien Bernard (France) as they went through the finish for the first of 16 laps on the toughest Worlds circuit - 5475 metres of elevation gain - since the Nurburgring's 5,844 metres of climbing in Germany, way back in 1966.

While the very fast start to the elite men's race proved too much for former double World Champion Julien Alaphilippe (France), who abandoned, ill, a move by Raúl García Pierna (Spain) to bridge across to the six leaders on the opening 10 laps of the Kigali city centre circuit sparked a strong response by numerous nations. Slovenia and Belgium, both fielding major favourites, kept things firmly under control, the latter despite the early loss of outside contender Ilan van Wilder to a crash, whilst the USA were also sticking close to the front.

After 100 kilometres of steadily hard riding, the seven had an advantage of just 2:33, a very small gap for an early break in the Worlds. That scant margin for hope drained away quickly, too, as the peloton headed out of the city at a relentlessly high pace for the race's single ascents of the deceptively difficult Mont Kigali and the ultra-steep Mur de Kigali, immediately afterwards.

Greeted by enormous crowds, seemingly even bigger than on the city centre finishing circuit, the three strongest riders from the break - Foldager, Oliveira and Bernard - hit the Mont Kigali with barely two minutes' advantage. To judge by the ferocious fight in a pack already reduced to just 80 riders to reach the foot of the Kigali as well-placed as possible, it was clear that nobody wanted to lose out on the hardest climb of the entire race. But that said, given the way Pogačar promptly proceeded to leave the field for dust at its summit, perhaps they'd have been wiser to save their energy.

As Bernard pressed home a fast-dimishing advantage on the upper slopes of the Mont Kigali, both Oliveira and Foldager were dropped, while Slovenia still kept a firm control on the pack, with Pogačar preceding a seemingly ever-vigilant Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso (Spain). But then, very close to the summit, the first key moment of the race suddenly materialised as Pogačar notably raised the pace, whilst Evenepoel, despite being so close behind, abruptly became one of the biggest victims of his searing acceleration. Then when the Slovenian closed in on the break over the top of the hill and powered past Bernard, only Ayuso could follow.

With 104 kilometres to go, such a long-distance show of strength looked like a mirror move to Zurich's Road World Championships 12 months earlier, albeit with the difference that this time the Slovenian was not (yet) alone. Furthermore, after blasting down the far side of the Mont Kigali at speed, Isaac Del Toro (Mexico) bridged across, briefly making it a trio of UAE riders ahead.

The next big development in what proved to be the winning move of the race came when Del Toro launched an emphatic challenge on the lungburstingly steep Mur de Kigali, testing Pogačar and pushing Ayuso out of the running. Pogačar was only a couple of bike lengths back, though, at the top, and as he rejoined Ayuso and the two headed back to the final six laps in Kigali city centre together, the joint commitment of the Mexican and the defending World Champion to their long-distance bid for glory was clear.

Still, with a first chase group at 40 seconds containing rivals as important as Ben Healy (Ireland), Carapaz, Ayuso and Jai Hindley (Australia), not to mention Evenepoel pushing to close the gap from a little further back, all was not lost for the opposition. But by the time Pogačar and Del Toro went under the finish line for the final six laps to go, their advantage over Sivakov and Healy had risen to 50 seconds, and the organisation in a chase group behind of just 30 riders was not yet good enough to try and reverse the gap. Last but not least, the presence of Pogačar's teammate Primož Roglič, cheerfully chasing down counter-attacks to ensure Pogačar gained as much of a margin as possible, can hardly have been encouraging, either.

Another of multiple setbacks for Evenepoel followed, too, when after hitting a pothole on the Mont Kigali that put his bike out of synch, he had no choice but to stop for a bike change.

Belgium initially battled on, though, with Evenepoel gamely following teammate Quinten Hermans up the Côte de Kigali, even as the number of significant abandons - Michael Matthews (Australia), Egan Bernal (Colombia) and Fred Wright (Great Britain) amongst them - began to multiply. However, Evenepoel's predicament worsened sharply again as he was delayed in a much more significant fashion when needing a second bike change, forcing him to spend the rest of the race battling to regain any chance of contention.

The sense that events were running out of control for Evenepoel increased even further when the first cohesive counter-attack finally formed behind Pogačar, courtesy of Sivakov, Healy and Mikkel Honoré (Denmark), but lacking the Belgian, still weaving through the team cars and jumping from group to group in a furious game of catch-up. Then just as the Belgian was on the point of joining the Healy group, yet more bad news filtered through for his chances: far from losing steam as Evenepoel surely would have wanted, ahead Pogačar had dropped Del Toro and gone for it alone.

The definitive turning point of the battle for gold took place at 66.6 kilometres to go, on the Côte de Kigali, not rated as being as hard as the cobbled Côte de Kimihurara, but for a rider with Pogačar's condition and strength, you'd suspect that was largely irrelevant. Indeed, there was seemingly no exceptional acceleration by Pogačar as he moved into solo-break mode, just a powerful drive that Del Toro, shadowing him as best he could, proved unable to follow. Once again, we were back in the same scenario as Zurich, and if Pogačar later said this latest long-distance move was unplanned, the end result was destined to be exactly the same.

It was true that as Pogačar was fulfilling the script predicted by so many to perfection, grinding steadily up the daunting Kigali slopes without any seeming effort, behind Evenepoel was able to stage a remarkable comeback. Having pushed his way through numerous chasing groups, the Belgian had eventually ended up with the closest pursuers behind the Slovenian, alongside Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark) and Healy. But even if Evenepoel's determination, making a massive contribution to the break and constantly cajoling the other two to push harder, was admirable and ended up with the trio distancing lone chaser Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) for good, their chances of catching a Pogačar in blazingly good form never looked more than minimal, either.

Of course, the key question remained if Pogačar's latest long-distance charge was too ambitious, even for him. As his margin remained stubbornly at around a minute for nearly 20 kilometres, the memory of how he struggled slightly in the finale of Zurich last September was inescapable, not to mention his sudden dip in strength at Amstel Gold this spring - with Skjelmose, present alongside Healy and Evenepoel, the man who defeated him in April too. Yet as the Slovenian team car was finally let through the convoy and up to Pogačar with around 40 kilometres to go, it was lost on nobody watching that his gap was not coming down, either.

As the trio of chasers headed towards the bell lap, basically set on going for a podium placing given Pogačar's evident superiority, Evenepoel darted clear, now moving into his favoured time trial mode as he went for it alone. It had been a nightmare scenario for the Belgian in the first two-thirds of the race, yet his ability to return to the fray and push as hard as he could in the finale could only be admired.

The biggest plaudits, though, had to be reserved for Pogačar, grimacing slightly with the effort as he blasted through the last lap, but with the prospects of a gold medal surely easing the pain a little. Visibly putting everything into it, the defending World Champion might well have had the memory of being overtaken by Evenepoel in the elite men's time trial the last week in mind as he ramped up the pace towards a certain victory for no apparent reason. But whatever the motivation for that last push to gain more time, his gap was once again increasing with every turn of the pedals.

Behind, Healy managed to follow Evenepoel up the road and drop Skjelmose on the final ascent of the Côte de Kigali. But by this point, though, Pogačar and his team car were already all but celebrating the win.

The final ascent of the Côte de Kimihurara, so decisive in the other Worlds' races this week, was tackled by Pogačar with no indication of last-minute weakening. If the last six laps were effectively laps of honour for Pogačar after such a dominant ride, the last time up, he could continue to relax and even smile a little.

Standing out of the saddle on the last little rise to the finish, Pogačar celebrated his second straight rainbow title with his arms spread wide and a subsequent exchange of high-fives with his support staff. The contrast with silver medallist Evenepoel, after he reached the finish 1:28 later, slumped against the barriers for long minutes afterwards and left wondering what might have been without those bike changes and his bad luck, could not have been clearer.

While Healy was delighted with Ireland's first road race medal since Sean Kelly's bronze back in 1989, the truth was that merely reaching the line on such a tough course with just 30 finishers was a major achievement in itself. As for Pogačar, the Slovenian could celebrate becoming the eighth rider in history to take back-to-back Worlds wins - and yet another massive milestone in his career.

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