100 km in 2024, 105 km in 2025: Tadej Pogacar has put on another incredible one-man show and retained his title in the road race at the World Championships in Rwanda's capital of Kigali to cement himself as the best rider in the world.
Who will succeed Tadej Pogacar in the men's road race at the cycling world championships? Perhaps the Slovenian himself, who was still the big favourite along with Remco Evenepoel, who was in good form and had already won the time trial. Lots of big outsiders and a complicated course promised an uncertain outcome.
Nevertheless, it was only 30 minutes before the first major event: the abandonment of Julian Alaphilippe. The former two-time world champion, a victim of food poisoning, gave up after around 30 kilometres, soon to be joined by his team-mate Louis Barre. An initial crash also cost Marc Soler and Ilan van Wilder the race, and several of the big nations lost good domestiques from the outset.
Invincible Pogacar
Meanwhile, a breakaway formed with Anders Foldager, Menno Huising, Ivo Oliveira, Fabio Christen, Marius Mayrhofer and Julien Bernard, who were joined later by Raul Garcia Pierna. A group that had an advantage of around two minutes for a long distance, before splitting up to leave only a trio of Foldager, Oliveira and Bernard.
The peloton kept up the pace, but gradually lost a number of riders. The heat was taking its toll, and Bernard set off alone at the front on the terrible ascent of Mount Kigali. It was here that Pogacar made his first effort, followed by Juan Ayuso and then Isaac Del Toro. The trio swallowed up the leader, while Evenepoel launched the chase. Ayuso couldn't keep up, and the leading duo were off to a great start.
Behind them, a group of around 30 reformed, but the gap remained just under a minute. At the front, Del Toro seemed to be struggling to keep up with the defending champion.
Finally, the peloton exploded under the impetus of the unstoppable Ben Healy, who brought Mikkel Honore and Pavel Sivakov in his wake. Behind them, it looked like a first-class burial, with Del Toro giving up at the front and letting Pogacar fly away alone with 65km to go.
Finally, everyone regrouped behind for another edition of 'All against Pogacar'. The Slovenian only had a one-minute lead with 60km to go, and after losing precious time on a bike change, Evenepoel went into action and isolated himself with Healy, Jai Hindley, Thomas Pidcock and Mattias Skjelmose. But it was impossible to close the gap. Hindley dropped, then Pidcock, and the remaining trio threw all their forces into the battle.
A trio of big rouleurs, who nevertheless didn't take back a centimetre from the Slovenian. As the laps went by, the gap grew, making Pogačar 's victory inevitable. Before the final lap, Evenepoel finally got rid of his two companions and tried to catch his great rival. But at the bell, he was nearly a minute and a half down, and the suspense was over.
Healy got rid of Skjelmose to complete the podium and bring Ireland its first medal since 1989. Evenepoel, the best of the rest, took silver three years after winning gold in 2022. But the best of them all was still Pogacar. Twice in a row, two world titles by attacking with around a 100 kilometres to go. An incredible performance from the man who is still the best rider in the world.