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Towering over the race course of the World Championships, is the Grossmünster, the most recognisable building of Zürich with its twin Romanesque towers. It was from here that Huldrych Zwingli effectively kicked off the Swiss-German reformation, splitting the city and in time much of Switzerland from the Catholic church.

Tadej Pogačar’s momentous victory in the men’s road race at the Worlds, then, is not the first time that history has been made at the heart of Zürich, although it is the latest. The Slovenian became the fourth person and third man in cycling’s record books to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and the World Championships road race all in the same season, an achievement often thought so unlikely that it has often been dismissed by the best riders in the world.

“It’s going up like a rollercoaster of emotions right now,” the 26-year-old said in his winner’s press conference. “I experienced all the emotions already today. It was crazy, the last kilometre. When I saw the teammates and Urska [Žigart, his partner], and all the interviews I’ve done before, it was really nice emotions. I’m really… I almost cried at every interview I did before.”

“When I was a kid, I didn’t even dare to dream of having this jersey, I just dreamed to be on the start line,” he continued. “In the last couple of years, chasing races, the Worlds was always just another race, but I was never really prepared for it. But inside of me I wanted to perform well, and this year was the perfect opportunity. It was a good parcours for me. I gave it all today, and it’s more than a dream come true. I can’t wait to start the next races in this jersey, I hope it’s going to be cool and I hope I can have fun in this jersey at races.”

“For sure it was a stupid move, but in the end stupid worked,” he said. “Not so stupid anymore, It was not panic, I don’t know what happened really. I felt good at that moment, and I had Jan Tratnik at the front, and when he waited for me, I was really motivated. It was a bit early, but I knew once I had a solid gap, 30/40 seconds, there were no big teams to pull at the back. You never know when you can turn on the engine. I never gave up believing to the finish line.”

“It wasn’t the plan,” Pogačar said. “Like I said before, it was a stupid move. I was just putting one bullet to one knee, and then I had a couple minutes later to the other knee, and that would be it. When I saw Jan in the front, he’s such a machine, he can pull super strong, and that’s what he did. He gave me hope, he gave me motivation. It was still early when he left, but I was riding a bit with my legs and my head [by then], and I was counting down the kilometres, and trying not to go over the limit, and I made it.

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‘It was a stupid move, but it worked’ – Tadej Pogačar on his history-making World Championships ride

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