Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar continued his stunning year of success by striking Cycling World Championships gold in the men's road race on Sunday.
The Slovenian produced yet another remarkable performance with a trademark solo long-distance breakaway in Kigali, Rwanda, to secure a second successive world title.
Pogacar finished crossed the finish line 1 min 28 sec ahead of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, who grabbed an impressive silver despite numerous mechanical difficulties, with Ben Healy of Ireland taking bronze.
On what was a brutal 267.5km run that included 33 climbs, over 15 loops and one longer, even harder loop with an extra cobbled climb, UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar again reigned supreme.
After a chastening time-trial one week ago, which saw Pogacar overtaken on the same roads by triple gold-medal winner Evenepoel – despite starting a couple of minutes before him – it was normal service resumed on what had been widely touted as the most difficult World Championships course ever seen.
British rider Tom Pidcock described it as his “most unenjoyable race of the year” in his post-race interview, due to how hard it was.
When Pogacar surged on Mount Kigali with 104km remaining, throwing caution to the wind, the script felt familiar.
Only his UAE Team Emirates teammates Juan Ayuso of Spain and Mexico’s Isaac Del Toro could initially follow – but Ayuso soon cracked and Del Toro was cast adrift 67km from the line, left to watch as Pogacar disappeared up the road for another memorable solo triumph.
When asked why he launched his attack so early, Pogacar replied: “I think the course was designed for this, but I was hoping that a small group would form, like we did with Juan and Del Toro. It was a perfect combo'.
“I was like – this is a dream, no, to ride together as far as possible, as a trio, but Juan had a problem like soon on the Mur and Del Toro had some stomach problems in the race.
“So I was left alone quite early, and I was solo, fighting by myself, but I'm so happy I made it.
“Because the climbs were getting harder and harder on every lap, but on the downhills, I had to pedal a lot too. Towards the end, the energy resources were going.
“It was so hard, the last final laps. Of course, you doubt, but you have to push through and hope for the best.”
He becomes only the second rider in the last two decades to successfully defend the rainbow jersey, following Slovakia’s Peter Sagan who won three in a row from 2015 to 2017.
He becomes the first man in history to do the Tour de France and World Championships road-race double in consecutive seasons.
In July, Pogacar became the sixth man to win four or more Tour de France titles, drawing level with Chris Froome and one behind Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
He also made it a century of career wins with victory on Stage 4 in France during what he described as “one of the hardest Tours” he had raced in.
The 27-year-old also secured spring classics triumphs at Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege–Bastogne–Liege.
With two Monument titles already this year, Pogacar further cemented his versatility across one-day and stage races.
Another Monument one-day race awaits when he lines up at the Giro di Lombardia next month.
But first Pogacar can savour his latest gold in what was Africa's first-ever World Championships. “It was an incredible experience altogether,” he added. “Let's say it was a successful week.”
