A victory with announcement: Tadej Pogacar is the big favorite to win the World Cup. But no one expected such an attack.
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.”
Triple crown for Pogacar
Pogacar became only the third professional after Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche to secure the so-called triple crown in 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.
In Zurich, with exactly 100.7 kilometers to go, he had enough and made the decisive attack on the fourth-to-last lap on the Zurichbergstrasse, which is up to 17 percent steep. Almost no one expected an attack so early and skepticism remained. “According to all the laws of probability, this simply cannot work. He invested too much energy too early,” said ex-professional and Eurosport expert Jens Voigt.
“Pressure is increasing”
Especially since Pogacar seemed nervous and didn’t look as stoic as usual in his attacks. 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 put their teams to work, but the gap to Pogacar did not narrow.
The superstar had a special bike built for the World Cup mission. The livery was inspired by Pogacar’s love of comics and pop art, the various colors such as yellow (Tour de France) and pink (Giro d’Italia) were intended to symbolize the greatest successes. Gold was missing – that should now be improved.
Minute of silence at the start
The start in Winterthur was dedicated to the memory of the junior cyclist Muriel Furrer, who died on Friday. The six-member Swiss team stood in the front row at the start next to World Association President David Lappartient; as in the women’s race the day before, a minute’s silence was held. The peloton set off on the route, visibly shaken. The Swiss association had given its drivers the option not to start given the circumstances.
A memorial was set up not far from the World Cup route in Zurich. At the Water Church, passers-by laid flowers, lit candles and paused for a moment.
A memorial trip for the Zurich resident also took place on Sunday morning. Many hobby racing drivers gathered at Sechseläutenplatz at 7 a.m. and drove the World Championship lap. Olivier Senn, sports director of the World Cup, gave a short speech before departure and a minute’s silence was held. “Talk to each other, drive in silence, what’s good for you,” said Senn. The field also passed the Furrer accident site on a descent in a forest. According to a report in the “Tagesanzeiger”, some amateur cyclists stopped and cried.
Source: Stern
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