Cycling World Cup: Tadej Pogacar is crowned world champion in Zurich

Pogacar writes cycling history despite a “stupid attack”.

The dominator of the season wins gold in Zurich and closes the gap in his palmarès. The Swiss Marc Hirschi kept up the pace for a long time and ended up in 6th place.

Published: September 29, 2024, 2:48 p.mUpdated 21 hours ago

The big goal has been achieved: Pogacar is world champion.

Photo: Fabrice Coffrini (AFP)

At the end of his crazy 100-kilometer escape, even Tadej Pogacar covered his face in disbelief and celebrated himself as the new world champion. The 26-year-old was at the destination of his dreams on the shores of Lake Zurich and finally had the coveted rainbow jersey. Visibly exhausted and relieved, he fell into the arms of his girlfriend Urska Zigart. After 273.9 extremely demanding kilometers, the Australian Ben O’Connor came second ahead of the Dutch defending champion Mathieu van der Poel.

“I can’t believe what happened. I put so much pressure on myself. “We came for the win,” said Pogacar after a day for the history books. “It may have been a stupid attack, but I just didn’t give up. We had actually planned to control the race. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

A kiss for the new champion: Pogacar with his girlfriend.

Photo: Michael Buholzer (Keystone)

Pogacar thus became the first third professional after Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche to secure the so-called Triple Crown of cycling. For this unofficial title you have to win two major national tours and the world championship title in the same year. Pogacar had triumphed at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

And then Pogacar has had enough

In Zurich he had reached exactly 100.7 kilometers from the finish and made the decisive attack on the fourth-to-last lap on the Zurichbergstrasse, which was divided by up to 17 percent. Almost no one expected an attack so early. Before the start, the Slovenian admitted the burden he had on his shoulders. “The pressure is increasing to finally deliver.” “If not this year, then definitely next year,” said Pogacar. It was this year.

Pogacar caught up with the leading group, got a little support from his teammate Jan Tratnik – and set off at the next finish. Defending champion Mathieu van der Poel and double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel read their teams work, but the gap to Pogacar did not narrow.

The Swiss Marc Hirschi crossed the finish line with the chasing group. In the last lap, the Bernese repeatedly launched attacks. In the end he came sixth. Stefan Küng ranked 37th, the other Swiss dropped out of the race.

🥇 Tadej Pogacar (SLN)

🥈 Ben O’Connor (AUS)

🥉 Mathieu van der Poel (NED)

In addition to the gold medal, Tadej Pogacar will also receive the rainbow jersey. He will be allowed to wear this all next season.

Ben O’Connor wins silver, Mathieu van der Poel takes bronze. Marc Hirschi comes sixth.

The big dominator of the season has achieved his goal: he is world champion.

Pogacar still has 3 km along the lake to the finish. His lead is still almost 50 seconds.

The group at the back uses tactics, but all attacks are gradually nipped in the bud. People are cheering on Hirschi on Sechseläutenplatz.

Olympic champion Evenepoel had difficulties in the chasing group. Marc Hirschi is a little ahead of Van der Poel and Ben O’Connor.

Mathieu van der Poel attacks the pursuers. But Hirschi sits behind the Dutchman’s rear wheel. By the way: If it ends up being a sprint for silver and bronze, Hirschi has good cards. Of everyone in the chasing group, he scored the second most points in the sprint.

Pogacar’s lead has settled at 40 seconds. The Slovenian is in the lard pit for the last time. There are still just under 11 km to the finish.

If he wins, he also gets the so-called Triple Crown – he wins the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the world championship title in one calendar year. Only two riders have achieved this so far: cycling legend Eddy Merckx (1974) and Irishman Stephen Roche (1987).

A large group has come together again at the back. Defending champions Van der Poel, Evenepoel and Hirschi are now pursuing the race together. Pogacar is still a good 40 seconds ahead of the group.

Did he attack too early? Tadej Pogacar’s lead narrowed. The Slovenian is now only 45 seconds ahead of the field. And the Dominator no longer looks as fresh as he did two rounds ago.

Is the Swiss coup coming now? On Zürichbergstrasse, Marc Hirschi is able to break away from his group and pursues the front three alone.

His efforts are enthusiastically applauded in front of the many large screens set up throughout the city of Zurich.

We’ve already heard that Tadej Pogacar is used to leading a race alone for a long time – and then winning it.

Alone in the open: Tadej Pogacar.

Photo: Getty Images

If he gets through, his solo escape will go down as the longest in the history of World Championship races. Until now, Remco Evenepoel held the record. However, his 22 km from 2022 quickly seems paltry compared to Pogacar’s 75 km.

The bell rings at Bellevue: the drivers enter the final lap.

If you’re not just interested in sports: Stefan Heuberger from the Georesources Switzerland specialist group took a close look at the landscape through which the World Cup race takes place. In her blog The geologists describe how the landscape in this region was heavily influenced by the glacial movements of the Ice Ages and what that means for the race track. The route leads past beautiful geological sights such as drumlins, a table mountain and lakes that were formed under the ice. The strong erosion and deposition of sediments also created important groundwater reservoirs and building materials such as gravel.

Pogacar’s two pursuers work together. The Irishman Ben Healy even gives his bottle to the Latvian Tom Skuijns. Meanwhile, Pogacar is having a little more trouble: in the refreshment area he doesn’t get the first bottle that’s handed to him. But the second one works.

And if you’re wondering what the professionals take in such a long race: most drivers take care of themselves with gels, bars and isotonic drinks. But there are also other variants, as the Canadian Michael Woods shows. He ate some rice at the start of the race.

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Meanwhile, Silvan Dillier has finished working for the day. The Swiss, who was in the leading group for a long time, has dropped out of the race and is now handing out autographs at Sechseläutenplatz.

Dillier on Sechseläutenplatz.

Photo: Pia Wertheimer

Dillier is not the only one with his task: former world champion Julian Alaphilippe, the Spaniard Mikel Landa, the Portuguese Joao Almeida and the Dane Mattias Skjelmose have also dropped out of the World Cup race.

By the way, Tadej Pogacar also rides a special bike for this race. It has, among other things, splashes of yellow and pink, in homage to his Tour de France and Giro d’Italia victories this year.

Pogacar drives at his pace, his teammate Sivakov can no longer keep up. The Slovenian is now alone at the top.

At the back, Mathieu van der Poel catches up with the three pursuers.

The World Cup race is special in many ways. On the one hand, we drive in national teams – drivers who have fought each other throughout the season can now drive in the same team. Or vice versa: Pogacar and Sivakov are wearing the bright green Slovenian and blue French jerseys today – but during the season they ride for the same team.

Tadej Pogacar (left) and Pavel Sivakov

Getty Images

Another special feature: There is no radio connection. In other races it is normal for each rider to have a button in their ear and a small microphone on their chest. This means he can contact the sports management at any time – or the sports management can give the drivers instructions.

There are always attacks in the field. But while they don’t see eye to eye at the back, Pogacar and Sivakov work well together up front. They built their lead to a quick 45 seconds.

70 km is a very long distance to ride at the front. But this is nothing new for Pogacar: in March he won the classic Strade Bianche after driving 81 kilometers ahead alone.

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topicnews · September 30, 2024

Cycling World Cup: Tadej Pogacar is crowned world champion in Zurich

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topicnews · September 30, 2024

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