Tadej Pogacar Exceeds All Expectations at World Championships in Rwanda

Surpassing his performance at the World Championships in Zurich was deemed impossible. However, once in a while, you get a super champion who can exceed all expectations time and time again. With his second consecutive world title in Kigali, Tadej Pogacar impressed even more than a year earlier on Swiss soil.

This was a grueling course with almost 5,500 meters of climbing at an altitude of around 1500 meters, featuring steep climbs paved with ruthless cobbles, under enormous humidity that made it almost impossible to sweat, and where the smog, according to some, made it feel as though you were constantly racing with a face mask on. Here, at the first World Championships in Africa, you had but one arrow in your quiver.

Veteran Anna van der Breggen captured it perfectly in the AD: “Due to all the factors here in Kigali combined, your breathing and heart rate rise very quickly. Normally, during intense effort, your legs suffer the most, but here it’s different. If you exceed your limit here, you won’t recover from it. The danger of completely blowing yourself up is huge.”

Tadej Pogacar, however, seems to stand above all the laws of the sport. At 105 kilometers, on the 5.7-kilometer Mount Kigali, the best rider of this generation accelerated from the saddle. Where a week earlier at the time trial World Championships he was caught by Remco Evenepoel, who started 2.5 minutes ahead, he now dropped that same Evenepoel uphill as if the Belgian was standing still.

Three UAE Emirates-XRG riders were upfront: friends Pogacar and Isaac Del Toro, and UAE dissident Juan Ayuso. However, for the Spaniard, a few kilometers further on the Muur van Kigali, the so-called law of this World Championship in Kigali applied: ‘You only have one arrow in your quiver.’

Del Toro also realized twenty kilometers later that you shouldn’t overextend yourself on this course. And the Mexican had to admit, after victories in four Italian semi-classics, that the 200-kilometer limit in cycling still exists. At first, Pogacar waited for his Mexican teammate, but eleven kilometers, seeing the gap shrink to 30 seconds, he knew it was unwise to keep towing Del Toro at 66 kilometers from the finish.

Photo: Cor Vos

With his weak time trial seven days earlier and the fact that on this course with exceptional conditions you'd encounter yourself more than in Zurich; there was still no guaranteed victory for Pogacar with an hour and a half to go. Especially when Evenepoel, Mattias Skjelmose, and Ben Healy joined the chase behind the Slovenian. The first two riders had still been able to catch and beat him in the Amstel Gold Race. Would the defending champion suffer another weak moment as in South Limburg?

The sensation of the Amstel Gold Race did not materialize. Pogacar always had himself under control. Though in Belgium, the question will linger whether Evenepoel could have done more. Before the start, the three-time world time trial champion was asked if he was in the best form of the season or the best form of his career. “Definitely the best this season, and in my career in one-day races, I’m certainly close,” showed the enfant of Schepdaal his confidence.

On Mount Kigali, that form temporarily disappeared. Not long after, Evenepoel changed bikes due to a saddle issue caused by riding in a pothole that led to cramping in his hamstrings. Shortly after, he stopped again because the saddle on his backup bike was incorrectly positioned. Although the mechanic of the Belgian team disputed that. Waiting on the side for the Belgian team car can be considered a mistake. He had to wait a full 42 seconds for the team car to arrive before getting back on his bike. Even juniors are taught that as long as you are rolling, you should continue riding until the team car reaches you. Stopping earlier costs precious time.

Add to that that his key domestique Ilan Van Wilder was out of the race early, and he was precisely the person who could have supported Evenepoel after the bike change. How Evenepoel later chased and impressed showed that his level was very close to Pogacar’s.

Photo: Cor Vos

Nevertheless, it remains a crooked letter. It’s a shame we didn’t get the direct Pogacar/Evenepoel duel. Instead, it was once again the great Pogi show in his fluorescent green Slovenian jersey. Attacking himself from 105 kilometers out and then riding solo for 66 kilometers to the finish. That’s even more extreme than in Zurich, where he attacked with 100 km to go and rode solo for 57 km. Back then, he somewhat struggled in the final lap; this time, he extended his lead even further in the ultimate kilometers.

“It can sometimes be annoying to watch,” said José De Cauwer to the Sporza microphone about the long solo of the four-time Tour winner. Yet, despite his fondness for Evenepoel, the greatest cycling expert in the Benelux mainly took off his hat to Pogacar. “This is pure enjoyment. Doing this only reinforces that you are the greatest of this era.”

And nobody can doubt that. Those rare days when he is a bit off still create sensations. Like in the Amstel Gold Race. And in the final stage of the Tour when Wout van Aert was able to drop him on Montmartre. And just last week at the World Championship time trial the humiliation—yes, we may call it that—when he was overtaken by Evenepoel.

But when it truly counts, Pogacar turns those rare question marks back into exclamation points.