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Tadej Pogačar’s audacious attack Sunday with 100km to go to win the 2024 road cycling world championships is one that will go down in history, but could the race have played out differently?
Pogačar’s win, while seemingly inevitable in hindsight, was closer than it might have seemed.
The Slovenian’s almost reckless decision to launch his attack so early wasn’t simply bold, it was part instinct and part necessity. With his team falling apart and rivals playing the waiting game, Pogačar wanted to take matters into his own hands.
The Slovenian described his long bomb as a “bit crazy.” Remco Evenepoel called it “a suicide move,” while Mathieu van der Poel thought he was “throwing away the rainbow jersey.”
But what seemed destined could easily have backfired. It was a risk Pogačar was willing to take.
‘We didn’t plan for an attack at 100km’
Belgium’s national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, speaking to the national media Sunday, acknowledged that Pogačar’s move caught them off guard.
“It turned out to be a really grueling race,” Vanthourenhout admitted. “We hadn’t planned for an attack by Tadej Pogačar more than 100 kilometers from the finish. But during the race, I started to fear it. I didn’t think the race was decided at that point, but it was just enough.”
Pogačar, isolated and without many teammates, bridged across to the breakaway, a move that put his rivals into a pinch.
The question was, should I stay or should I go? Evenepoel and everyone else waited.
“That would have been the best move [to go with Pogačar],” Vanthourenhout said. “But with more than 100 kilometers left, it’s understandable that Remco didn’t react immediately.”
Only Strade was longer than Tadej Pogačar’s worlds masterpiece
Getty Images
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#Zurich2024 pic.twitter.com/GrbsvC2ogj— Velon CC (@VelonCC) September 30, 2024
Yet it was up to Belgium and Evenepoel — the only rider considered equal to Pogačar on this type of course — to take up the chase.
Belgium was forced to burn through its roster to manage the gap, hoping other nations would help. They kept him on a relatively short leash, but the price was high.
With everyone on their collective knees by the final two laps, allowing Pogačar to defend his slender lead.
“We had no choice but to burn through everyone,” Vanthourenhout said of the Belgian squad. “I counted on support from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy, but it didn’t materialize.”
‘A very good Remco would have competed for the title’
Belgium’s efforts fizzled into an every-rider-for-themselves street fight in the decisive final two laps.
Pogačar held a narrow 1-minute lead heading into the bell lap, and for a critical moment, it seemed possible he might crack against headwinds on the final climb.
Riders attacked and countered, producing chaos behind the ever-steady Pogačar that helped him tap away at the front.
With the lead dwindling to 40 seconds with 15 kilometers to go, the rainbow jersey was still hanging in the balance.
But a crucial factor in the outcome was that Evenepoel simply wasn’t having his best day.
Van der Poel played his cards smartly, conserving enough energy to secure bronze, but without Evenepoel’s Olympic-level legs, the collective chase fell short.
Vanthourenhout sensed the jig was up when he passed Evenepoel with just over a lap to go.
“Coming next to him, I knew the race was finished,” he said. “Everyone still there at that point was at their limit. Mathieu van der Poel didn’t look too fresh, either. And it was the same for the others.”
Always a special feeling to fight for the rainbow.
Full gas until the finish line, a 5th place and no regrets.
Congrats to @TamauPogi, enjoy this beautiful jersey!! pic.twitter.com/nLxCR12Juk
— Remco Evenepoel (@EvenepoelRemco) September 29, 2024
Pogačar had just enough in the tank to fend off the chase, but the lack of coordination behind him was an important deciding factor.
“A very good Remco would have competed for the title, but he was still fifth and played a significant role,” Vanthourenhout said. “He can look back on 2024 with pride.”
Pogačar’s world title is a masterclass of trademark tactical brilliance, raw power, and perhaps, just a bit of luck.
Anything can happen in a one-day race, and Pogačar gambled Sunday, and hit the jackpot. To the brave go the spoils.
Team USA puts 3 into top-20, but medal drought continues
It’s been since 1993 that an American’s won a medal in the elite men’s road worlds, and it’s going to be at least one more year before they do.
Team USA brought perhaps its best team in a decade to the Zürich worlds, but Pogačar’s bull-dozing attack left the Americans scrambling in his wake.
Quinn Simmons led home the U.S. with ninth, good for the team’s first top-10 since Neilson Powless hit a decades-best fifth in 2021 in Leuven.
Pre-race favorite Matteo Jorgenson struggled to find his trademark rhythm on the demanding 270km course.
“I had a bad day personally,” Jorgenson told FloBikes. “I just did my best, and I was nowhere near the level that I am usually at. At that moment he attacked, I was too far back, and I didn’t expect him [Pogačar] to go with 100km to go. It caught us all off-guard.”
The Slovenian’s early move not only surprised the American team but also disrupted their race strategy. Jorgenson pointed to Belgium as the team expected to lead the chase.
“At a certain point, the gap was too big to try to bridge across, and it was up to Belgium to react. It got complicated, and they ran out of guys pretty quick,” Jorgenson said. “Everyone was doing their best. It’s good that Quinn was top-10. It was a difficult race, 270km with 4500m of climbing, it was full gas. It was just up to the legs.”
@usacycling 3 in the top 20 Kudos!!!! Way to ride fellas!!!!!
— Grateful Warrior: (@ridetoclimb) September 29, 2024
Kevin Vermaerke was positioned up the road when Pogačar made his move, and even tried to follow the wheel before quickly realizing the folly of the task.
“When Tadej came across, everybody knew he was going to make a move on that hill. I was on the wheel, and when you look down and you’re doing 700 watts and there’s still two minutes to climb, there’s only one outcome.” Vermaerke said.
“It was a really tough day. I think we tried to do the best we could with the team we had here. Tadej? I think he’s the deserving world champion. When you put in a ride like that, it’s hard to knock it.”
Simmons burns through 7000 kilojoules
The race was a personal salve for Simmons, who struggled across much of 2024 with health issues. A junior world champion in 2019, ninth was his best among elite men in a road worlds, but his top ride came as a bit of a surprise.
“Three weeks ago when I first heard I was going to the worlds, everyone said it was a big mountain race, and I thought maybe it’s not for me. But when I looked closer at the course and watch the U23 race, I thought, yeah, I can go for it.
“I lost count how many times I got dropped, but you keep fighting.”
Simmons takes some consolation out of Zürich, calling it “the best team we’ve fielded in years.”
“It’s not a huge result, but I am just now coming back to racing, so this is my best result in a big one-day in almost two years,” he said. “We take a big boost from there and go into next year.
“If anyone is surprised that Pogačar won this race I don’t think they follow cycling,” he said. “Was it difficult out there? I did 7000 kilojoules, so you tell me.”
Team USA in elite men’s Zürich
9. Quinn Simmons (USA)
17. Brandon McNulty (USA)
19. Kevin Vermaerke (USA)
34. Matteo Jorgenson (USA)
39. Neilson Powless (USA)
47. Magnus Sheffield (USA)
70. Larry Warbasse (USA)
DNF – Riley Sheehan (USA)
Sodium bicarbonate cannot save Canada
Michael Woods made headlines during the early going of Sunday’s elite men’s race by slurping down something out of a plastic food tray in the middle of the race.
He confirmed it was sodium bicarbonate, but even that couldn’t help the Canadian team against Pogačar.
“It was a Morton’s sodium bicarbonate. It’s really effective and I like using it,” Woods told FloBikes. “But the problem is it only lasts five hours, so I had it about an hour, hour and a half into the race.”
Instead of slurping it down in a gel, Woods actually used a spoon to scoop it up mid-race.
Michael Woods of Canada gets stick into the bicarbs – from a plastic dish, using a spoon – on the move during the Worlds road race todayhttps://t.co/Vg9ps1N5HR
— StickyBottle.com (@sticky_bottle) September 29, 2024
Woods popped a few flares, but fizzled out to finish 54th. He was hoping for more on a course similar to Innsbruck in 2018, when he hit the podium with third.
“When [Pogačar] went, no one could follow. He’s the best rider in the world. It was a super hard day, no words really, it was just a hard day,” Woods said. “I made some attacks and got on the back foot a bit when things were shuffling around, and I missed the opportunity to race for the medals.”
Pier-André Côté led home the Canadians with 44th, while Guillaume Boivin was a late non-starter. Derek Gee didn’t finish.
“I had a front flat with four laps to go, and I was out the back. Game over,” Gee said. “The legs were not quite there to be up there in the end.”
Chloé Dygert caps double-medal worlds after almost not starting
Chloé Dygert nearly pulled off the biggest win of her road racing career Saturday when she kicked to silver in the elite women’s road race.
It was an even more spectacular result considering that she almost didn’t start the race.
“I definitely didn’t expect this. Now coming away with silver, I’m a little mad that it wasn’t gold, but I’m happy,” said told CyclingProNet. “If the race was yesterday, I don’t think I could have started.”
Chloe Dygert became the first American man or woman to win a world medal in the road race since 2015.
It’s the best finish by an American woman since 1991! #Zurich2024 https://t.co/WtC2i5xGtt
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) September 28, 2024
Dygert — who won gold in team pursuit and bronze in time trial at the Paris Olympic Games — proved she can go deep in brutal conditions in one-day racing.
Though she was gapped a few times by more explosive rivals on the climbs, she battled back each time. She even handled a treacherous final descent in wet conditions to stay within medal range.
She powered into the finishing straight to hit silver, the first American worlds road medal since Megan Guarnier was bronze in 2015. Silver is the best by a U.S. woman since Inga Thompson was second in 1991.
For 2025, Dygert promises to pivot full-time to road racing. At 27 and after racing in three Olympic Games, there’s some unfinished business on the pavement. She’s already signed a contract extension to stay with Canyon-Sram through 2026.
Van der Poel ends season at UCI gravel worlds
Mathieu van der Poel denied he will race Il Lombardia next month and said his season ends with the UCI gravel world championships in Belgium on October 6 in Leuven, Belgium.
“I don’t know where that report came from,” Van der Poel said of the Italian monument. “My season ends with gravel worlds, and then I will take a nice break.”
Van der Poel said he was “proud” of his bronze medal on the climb-heavy Zürich course and will reveal what cyclocross races he will take on this winter in the coming weeks.
How many more rainbows for Pogačar?
It might have taken him a long time — at least by his standards — but now that he’s won the world title, how many more can he win?
The UCI confirmed the dates for the next several world championship courses, and there’s plenty to make Pogačar’s rivals lose sleep over.
Next year’s already-confirmed worlds course in the first-ever edition in Africa is pure climber’s mayhem with a mid-race major climb in the men’s race that will set up Pogačar perfectly for a title defense.
The 2026 worlds in Montréal, also already confirmed, will be another altitude-heavy route similar to the famous 1974 worlds won by Eddy Merckx. In a route that mirrors the GP Montréal WorldTour stop, which Pogačar has already won twice, will favor him to complete the triple.
That would pull him equal to Peter Sagan and Merckx with a record three world crowns each.
The 2027 worlds is set for the Haute Savoie in France on a course that’s not yet designed, but some hint it could be similar to the infamous worlds in Sallanches in 1980 that featured a spirit-crushing 6,000 vertical meters. More likely is a challenging and demanding circuit, not one just the pure climbers.
Abu Dhabi will host the 2028 worlds in a route that will — finally — give the sprinters a chance again, while Denmark and Brussels will host in 2029 and 2030, respectively, that will also fit into the traditional worlds mix.
