Tadej Pogacar took victory in the men’s elite road race at the World Championships in Zurich on Sunday to become the first male rider to complete cycling’s unofficial triple crown since Irishman Stephen Roche in 1987.
The UAE Team Emirates rider, who earlier this season claimed the first Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in 26 years, delivered another demonstration of dominance as he rode solo with a little over 50 kilometres of the 274km race left to add the rainbow jersey to his remarkable collection.
But his attack had come much earlier – with 100km still to go – as he chased down a large breakaway before moving straight to the front of the race. After the Slovenian left behind Pavel Sivakov to open up a one-minute gap, Pogacar was making it look easy.
But there was some late drama as a chasing group that included Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel and defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel came back, cutting his advantage to around 40 seconds before Pogacar reached the respite of the long descent into town.
The 26-year-old took victory by a margin of 34 seconds from Australia’s Ben O’Connor, with Van der Poel claiming bronze as Ireland’s Ben Healy narrowly missed out on the medals despite a superb attacking ride.
“I cannot believe what just happened,” Pogacar said. “After this kind of season, I put a lot of pressure on myself for today. I had pressure from myself and from the team. We came here for the victory.
“The race unfolded pretty quickly. There was a dangerous breakaway in front. Maybe I did a stupid attack but luckily Jan (Tratnik) was there with me and I never gave up until the final. It’s an incredible day.”
Eddy Merckx was the first rider to claim the treble of the Tour, Giro and rainbow jersey in 1974 before Roche emulated him 13 years later. Annemiek van Vleuten is the only female rider to have taken the triple crown, doing so in 2022.
