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When Tadej Pogačar tore down the finishing straight on Sunday, he had a smile as broad as the concluding boulevard of Bellerivestrasse.
The celebrations were bigger than usual, more animated than usual. He started by clasping his hands to his face in disbelief.
He punched the air with one hand, then with two, he raised both fists high above his head and then he pumped his arms repeatedly, mouth wide open.
That euphoria was replicated on the final podium. He donned the rainbow jersey and then the gold medal, congratulated rivals Ben O’Connor and Mathieu van der Poel, then threw his arms high and thrust his head back and fully soaked up the atmosphere, eyes skywards.
It was perhaps the happiest he has been at the end of a bike race.
“I cannot really describe how I felt, but I can tell in the last two hours of the race, I went through all the emotions possible,” he told Eurosport after the elite world championship road race.
“I just couldn’t give up, I pushed through. The emotions in the end … I am still emotional, and I cannot believe what happened.”
Those sensations were due in part to the victory, to becoming world champion, but also due to the context.
Pogačar has won the biggest prizes in the sport, taking three Tours de France and one Giro d’Italia by just 25 years of age. Prior to Sunday’s success, he had clocked up 22 victories this year alone, and dozens throughout his career.
But world champion? That means something else.
He’s worn the maillot jaune during the Tour and the maglia rosa in the Giro. But this win means he can don the rainbow jersey throughout the next 12 months.
That’s special, and even more so as he’s become only the third male rider in history to take cycling’s exclusive triple crown.
‘It was stupid’
Pogačar joined Merckx and Roche Sunday but in ways he surpassed that illustrious duo.
Back in 1974 Eddy Merckx went clear with Raymond Poulidor in the finale of the worlds in Montréal, then put two seconds into him in the final sprint.
Thirteen years later Stephen Roche was part of a breakaway group in the finale of the 1987 worlds in Villach, Austria, and put in a perfectly timed attack with about 500 meters to go. He won by one second.
In both instances the victory came inside the final minute of racing.
Pogačar did it the hard way on Sunday.
Expected to bide his time and then take on his rivals inside the final lap or two of the tough 27 kilometer finishing circuit in Zürich, he instead surged clear with just under four laps to go.
Kicking clear on the climb with over 100 kilometers left on the clock and then beginning a fully solo run with 50km remaining, he threw the tactics book right out the window.
It was, Van der Poel said afterwards, something he thought was “a stupid move.”
Pogačar agreed.
“Of course it was not planned,” he said of that initial surge. “It was stupid. Sometimes in the race you do stupid things. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But today it worked.”
That stunned his rivals. “I thought he was throwing away the world champion’s jersey,” Van der Poel said.
Instead he was really earning it.
Making his move so early was far more audacious than what Merckx and Roche had done.
It was also far more dominant.
They finished two and one seconds ahead, respectively.
He triumphed by 34 seconds, and after a 100 kilometer attack.
That’s real panache. It’s one of the most impressive rides in the history of the sport.
Welcome help in the heat of battle
Pogačar is quick to give praise to others, and he gave special thanks to Jan Tratnik. He was part of the day’s big break and dropped back as soon as he learned that his team leader was coming across.
That proved to be vital.
“At first it was like, ‘this is so stupid,’” Pogačar said again, describing his emotions while up the road.
“Then I saw Jan waited for me. I was like, ‘okay, let’s go.’
“Jan is Jan, Jan is flying. He pulled incredibly strong and I was really happy he was there. He pushed to the next climb but it was still many laps to go.”
Having UAE Emirates teammate Pavel Sivakov in the breakaway was also a boost. Officially riding for the French team, he had the right to play his own card once team leader Julian Alaphilippe crashed out.
In that light pushing ahead of the break with Pogačar didn’t create a clash between trade team tactics and national team interests.
Sivakov gave it a shot; it just so happened that move also helped the rider who is his team leader the other 51 weeks of the year.
“When I had to go again, I was again lucky Pavel was there with me,” Pogačar said. “We cooperated a little bit and when Pavel was dropped, it was again a stupid idea [to be out front so soon – ed.].
“Everything happening today. But in the end it worked, so I am really happy.”
‘She sacrifices so much’
When Pogačar crossed the line and wheeled to a halt, he celebrated with the Slovenian team support crew.
He then ran to his partner Urška Žigart, herself a pro rider, clasped her around the race and lifted her off the ground. He kissed her twice, and hugged her repeatedly.
The moment meant a lot to both of them.
“Urška is a really, really big part of my life,” he said afterwards, sounding emotional. “She wouldn’t say, but she sacrifices so much more than she would admit for my career.
“I am so happy that I have a person like her next to me.”
Žigart has played a big part in keeping him ‘up’ amid disappointments. She’s been there when he’s been recovering from crashes, including the fractured hand that he suffered in the spring of 2023.
She’s also been there when he’s been vanquished, twice, by Jonas Vingegaard in the 2022 and 2023 Tours de France.
And she was there this week when he was dealing with the weight of expectation and the pressure of chasing cycling’s triple crown.
Achieving that target is something huge for Pogačar.
“After many years fighting for the Tour de France and other races, I never had the world championship as a clear goal,” he said.
“This year everything went smooth already. This year after a perfect season it was a really big goal to win the world championships. I can’t believe it happened.
“I have to thank all the team. Without them it would be impossible.”
‘Dreams come true’
Pogačar was likely thinking of Žigart on a very tough, draining final lap. The work of his team will also have been a motivation. His energy was ebbing away, the chasing group was inching closer and closer and big attacks were firing off behind.
It seemed touch and go if he was going to make it.
In the end he rallied, raising his game and pulling it off. That was partly due to the stop/go racing behind, but mostly to his determination and stubbornness.
“I had good legs until the last lap,” he said. “But I never gave up and pushed through. It was incredible.”
That it was.
So what is next for Tadej Pogačar? Other riders might call it quits after such a heavy season, putting their feat up after taking on and winning two grand tours and then the worlds.
He’s got no such intention.
Il Lombardia and the preceding classics beckon, and he gets to go there with the rainbow across his back.
“I cannot wait now to go to Italy and do the last three races with this jersey,” he said.
“Dreams come true. I didn’t even dare to dream to have the rainbow jersey when I was a kid, so this means even more.
“I can’t believe what just happened. I’m super happy.”
