When Tadej Pogačar delivered his opening statement with 100km still to race at the World Championships in Zurich, Remco Evenepoel felt it wasn’t prudent to respond immediately. He wasn’t to know it at the time, but that was where the discussion ended.
A Worlds that had been billed in some quarters as a back-and-forth between Evenepoel and Pogačar instead turned into a monologue. While Pogačar delivered his latest solo recital off the front, Evenepoel found himself as part of a discordant chasing group. He would eventually place fifth, 58 seconds down on the Slovenian.
As they drifted through the finish area on Sechseläutenplatz afterwards, the chorus of beaten men all struck more or less the same note. In the beginning, none of them had believed Pogačar could hope to stay away for all that time. By the end, they accepted that there was simply nothing to be done in the face of his latest, astonishing show of strength. Not this year, at least.
"I mean, the moment when he went on the top of the climb, I was sitting next to Mathieu [van der Poel]. We were thinking that it was a suicide move and everything was going to come back together," Evenepoel said.
"But in the end, he was on a good day, he rode as fast as we did in the back, so he deserved it. If you look at his season, he’s the guy that deserves to ride in rainbows next year."
While Pogačar sealed his Triple Crown on Sunday afternoon, Evenepoel had entered the race chasing a historic feat of his own as he looked to notch up a Quadruple of gold medals across the Olympic Games and World Championships.
Buoyed by his time trial world title last week, Evenepoel set out at the head of a Belgian team built squarely around his leadership. When Pogačar attacked with 100km to go to bridge up to the break, Evenepoel believed his squad had sufficient horsepower to reel the Slovenian back in.
"I felt like we had things under control, and I said to Tiesj [Benoot, teammate] if we could keep it about a minute or 50 seconds, that would be great," Evenepoel said of his initial reaction to Pogačar’s attack. "In some races you would say it’s easily controllable, especially with the headwind on the longer part of the climb."
It wasn’t to be. Chasing Pogačar on the demanding finishing circuit would prove too much for the bulk of Evenepoel’s supporting cast. With 70km remaining, he found himself alone in a fragmenting chasing group. Although Pogačar’s lead never nudged much beyond a minute, Evenepoel et al never really looked like getting back on terms, even with the bones of three laps still to race.
"When we arrived back on the steep climb, I saw my guys going backwards," Evenepoel said. "There was only Tim [Wellens] and Maxim [Van Gils] left to do something. I said to Maxim, 'Go full to the top and then I’ll try to open the race again.' But I think Tadej was just on a special day."
'Not normal'
Evenepoel’s decision not to join Pogačar in his long-range offensive will inevitably draw scrutiny, but it is hard to be critcial when even the Slovenian himself described his attack as a "stupid move." Evenepoel and Van der Poel surely felt justified in deciding to call Pogačar’s bluff when he danced off the front at that early juncture.
In cycling’s supersonic 2020s, it seems that the tactical certainties of generations past now count for nothing. But even by the bewildering standards of this era, it was still staggering to see an attack from the Worlds favourite with 100km still to race. More astounding still was the fact that it succeeded.
"I wouldn’t have done anything different," Evenepoel said. "We controlled the race with Victor [Campenaerts], then we sped up a bit on the downhill part to see what the damage could be, and it was pretty clear that teams could break up, but it was still a very long way to go."
"I mean, every normal guy would say 100k to go is way too far, but I think Tadej this year is not normal. Like I said, I think he deserves it. For us, I don’t think we can be mad or sad with the race. We tried, we did the maximum."
Out on the road, Evenepoel’s frustration with proceedings in the chasing group was clear, and with two laps to go, he could be seen gesticulating in annoyance with the American pair of Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons over their collaboration.
In the mixed zone, however, Evenepoel was measured in his assessment of the day, stopping at every station to talk reporters through his race in Dutch, French and English. Even though Pogačar’s gap briefly dropped to 35 seconds on the last lap, Evenepoel knew he was racing for a medal at best. In the finale, Ben O’Connor (Australia) slipped away to claim silver, while Van der Poel sprinted easily to bronze ahead of Toms Skujins (Latvia) and Evenepoel.
"It’s a fifth place, but I think it’s the best sprint I could do against guys like Mathieu,” Evenepoel said. “A medal would have been nice, but it wouldn't have changed anything in my career. I rode here to get the jersey, but that was all I could do today with an outstanding Tadej."
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