Tadej Pogacar capped one of the greatest road cycling years in history by becoming the fourth rider to complete the sport’s unofficial triple crown.
Pogacar, a 26-year-old Slovenian, won the world championships road race on Sunday in Zurich, Switzerland, following his Grand Tour victories at the Giro d’Italia in May and the Tour de France in July.
“I cannot believe what just happened,” said Pogacar, who also won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021. “After this kind of season, I put a lot of pressure on myself for today.
“After many years fighting for Tour de France and other races, I never had world championships as a clear goal (in past years). This year, everything went smooth already. After a perfect season, it was a really big goal to win world championships. I just can’t believe it happened.”
Pogacar had a dominant ride Sunday — attacking with about 63 miles left and leading solo for the last 31 miles of the 170-mile race.
He kept a lead between 40 seconds and one minute for most of that trek and ultimately won by 34 seconds over Australian Ben O’Connor. Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel took bronze in a sprint over a group that included Olympic gold medalist Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.
“It’s Tadej. There’s no stopping him sometimes,” Ireland’s Ben Healy, who placed seventh, told the BBC.
Past riders to win the triple crown — the Giro, Tour and worlds road race in one year — were Belgian Eddy Merckx (1974), Irishman Stephen Roche (1987) and Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten (2022).
Few top men race the three-week Giro and three-week Tour in the same year due to the short break between the two, let alone win both.
Evenepoel, the 2023 World road race champion, was denied his bid for history Sunday. He was trying to become the first rider to sweep the four Olympic and world championships road race and time trial titles in one year.
2024 UCI World Road Cycling Championships Men’s Road Race Results
Gold: Tadej Pogacar (SLO) — 6:27:30
Silver: Ben O’Connor (AUS) — +:34
Bronze: Mathieu van der Poel (NED) — +:58
4. Toms Skujins (LAT) — +:58
5. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) — +:58
6. Marc Hirschi (SUI) — +:58
7. Ben Healy (IRL) — +1:00
8. Enric Mas (ESP) — +1:01
9. Quinn Simmons (USA) — +2:18
10. Romain Bardet (FRA) — +2:18
