Remco Evenepoel Humiliates Tadej Pogacar in Rwanda to Claim World Championships Time Trial Hattrick

Afterwards, increasingly interesting intermediate times came through. Ilan Van Wilder proved to be much faster than Luke Plapp and the French youngster Paul Seixas along the way. Van Wilder was also the first rider under 53 minutes, finishing in 52:22 minutes at an average speed of 46.5 km/h. This set a high standard for the rest.

First checkpoint: Evenepoel unleashes mercilessly at the start
The first notable outsider was Isaac Del Toro, who made a strong impression at the first checkpoint. He was even a bit faster than dark horse Jay Vine at the top of the day’s first climb and also faster than Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian was 0.88 seconds behind Del Toro there.

However, this was nothing compared to Remco Evenepoel, as the Olympic time trial champion recorded a time of 14:05 and was already 44 (!) seconds faster than Del Toro, Pogačar, and Vine at that point. Dutch hopeful Thymen Arensman was ninth at the first checkpoint, more than a minute behind Evenepoel.

Second checkpoint: Pogačar falters and fears Evenepoel
Van Wilder managed his time trial well, holding the lead when the top favorites still had to come through. Jay Vine confirmed his status as a podium contender by going 26 seconds below Van Wilder’s time. This also gave him a sizeable advantage over Isaac Del Toro and Bruno Armirail.

For Pogačar, it appeared to be a struggle. At the second checkpoint, he was already 25 seconds behind Vine, only narrowly faster than Van Wilder, and felt Evenepoel breathing down his neck. Almost literally, as Evenepoel had extended his lead over the Slovenian to 1:42 (!). Knowing they had started with a 2:30 difference, Pogačar feared the overtaking maneuver.

Third checkpoint: Evenepoel extends lead, Van Wilder faster than Pogačar
At the penultimate split, just before the Côte de Péage and the cobblestone climb of Côte de Kimihurura, Vine maintained his lead over Van Wilder. The gap between them was 27 seconds. It was also clear at this point that Pogačar was in a downward spiral. A slim lead over Van Wilder turned into a 7-second deficit in favor of the Belgian.

Van Wilder could dream of a World Championship medal in Rwanda and a podium spot alongside his countryman and teammate. Evenepoel charged on and held a 1:24 lead over Vine and 1:51 over Van Wilder at the last time check. Pogačar was already nearly two minutes behind.

Finale: Remco Evenepoel overtakes Pogačar and claims third consecutive world title
In the final section, Jay Vine put in another strong performance. The Australian flew over the Côte de Péage and Côte de Kimihurura and extended his lead over Van Wilder from 27 seconds to 1:21, positioning himself for silver and Van Wilder for bronze.

On the Côte de Péage, Evenepoel finally caught sight of Pogačar before powering past him on the cobblestones of Kimihurura. A painful moment for the Slovenian, who had boldly declared his intention to go for the world title before the race. Nothing stood in the way of Evenepoel’s historic third consecutive title then. The Aerokogel rider from Schepdaal raced to his third straight gold medal at the World Time Trial Championships in Kigali.

At the finish line, Evenepoel held a 1:14 lead over Vine, who had clocked a faster final segment. Third place went surprisingly to Van Wilder, 2:36 behind his countryman. Pogačar finished just under a second behind Van Wilder, ending in fourth place. Del Toro completed the top five. Ninth place went to Thymen Arensman, nearly four minutes behind Evenepoel.