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Tadej Pogačar wrote another page of cycling history Sunday to win the 2024 UCI road cycling world championships with a spectacular solo attack.
The Slovenian sensation launched the race-winning move with 100km to go, and attacked again with 50km to go to power solo all the way to the line.
In his wake, pre-race favorites Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel couldn’t immediately answer to set up a thrilling tug-of-war for the spoils.
Ben O’Connor took a surprise silver for Australia with a late-race attack out of the elite chase group. Van der Poel defended his 2023 world title with class to take bronze.
Things got tense on the bell lap, but Pogačar had enough in the tank to hang on to win to complete the “Triple Crown,” placing him alongside legends Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche in elite men’s racing.
After winning the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this summer, Pogačar’s triumph at the world championships adds a new chapter to his near-perfect 2024 season.
With everyone on their collective knees, Pogačar made the final circuit a personal victory lap for one of the most spectacular worlds performances since, well, Merckx.
Quinn Simmons led home Team USA with a solid ninth in his best worlds performance since winning the junior world title in 2019.
More to come …
How it happened: Pogačar attacks with 100km to go
Pogačar attacked with four laps to go on the Bergstrasse, the short but steep climb at the start of each circuit, with about 100km remaining.
Along with compatriot Jan Tratnik, the pair quickly powered clear of the main pack to link up with a leading group of a dozen riders.
Pogačar drove straight through the group, with only France’s Pavel Sivakov able to hold his wheel. Behind him, the main bunch fractured as Belgium drove the chase over the next two laps to keep Pogačar within reach.
Pogačar and Sivakov hit two laps to go with 40 seconds on a fragmented chase group that included Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Marc Hirschi, Enric Mas, and three Americans, with Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons making the split, and Kevin Vermaerke holding on from an earlier move.
Pogačar dropped Sivakov on the penultimate passage over the Bergstrasse to hit 50km to go solo with a 45-second lead. He was gone.
Behind him, Ben Healy and Toms Skjins gave chase.
Race for the medals
Pogačar danced up the long, grinding false-flat at the Witkion climb to widen his gap to 51 seconds to Healy and Skjins. Evenepoel surged to reel in Van der Poel to 1:20 back with 40km to go, and Jorgenson couldn’t follow.
Pogačar was in a league of his own, and raced unanswered across the final lap to the cheers of the delirious mob. The only question was who would finish on the podium behind him.
A wild final lap saw the other superstars race for the leftovers with a string of searing attacks.
Pogačar’s lead was trimmed to 40 seconds with 15km, but by the time the counter-attacks came, it was too late.
