In Zurich, Tadej Pogacar becomes world cycling champion with a flight of ideas – Libération

Tadej Pogacar flew away. After his historic Giro-Tour de France double – a first since Pantani in 1998 – this summer, the Slovenian won the World Cycling World road race this Sunday, September 29 in Zurich (Switzerland). He succeeds Mathieu Van der Poel as world champion and takes the rainbow jersey for the first time in his career (he came third in Glasgow last year), after more than 270 kilometers of racing between Winterthur and Zurich.

The leader of the UAE team carried out an insane raid, attacking 100 kilometers from the finish: “I don’t know what went through my head, he reacted. This was obviously not the plan planned at the start but the race opened up quickly, with a dangerous breakaway ahead. Maybe it was stupid of me. Fortunately I got there. I can’t believe what just happened.”

After getting back to the front of the race where his compatriot Jan Tratnik was waiting for him, Pogi performed his number. The now new world champion did it again twenty kilometers later, blowing up the group in the ascent of Zürichbergstrasse – one of the difficulties of a course of more than 4,400 meters of positive altitude difference – accompanied by his teammate, the French Pavel Sivakov (UAE).

51 kilometers from the finish, Pogacar lets go of the Franco-Russian. In pain, marked by effort, the finale is tinged with suspense. The Slovenian is under pressure from a small group made up in particular of Remco Evenepoel – who was in the running for a new time-line race double after that of the Paris 2024 Olympics -, Mathieu Van der Poel and Ben O’Connor . However, he maintained a lead of around forty seconds over his pursuers until the end of the race. The Australian from Decathlon-AG2R finished second, and the Dutch champion, third.

Pogacar becomes only the third rider in history after Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987 to win the Tour of Italy, the Tour de France and the World Championships in the same year. “I put enormous pressure on myself. I had made this title a big goal after a perfect season. It’s incredible”explained Pogacar at the end of the test. At only 26 years old, his list of achievements grows day by day. He now has four Grand Tours, including three times the Tour de France with 17 stages along the way, six Monuments and a world title to his credit for a colossal total of 86 victories.