The Slovenian won his second title of consecutive world champion after a 66 -kilometer raid without escaped companion on Sunday in Kigali (Rwanda).
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“I don't know what happened to me, maybe it was a stupid attack”said Tadej Pogacar after his victory over the Worlds in Zurich in 2024, when he attacked 101 kilometers from the finish. But this attack, perhaps “stupid”, had earned him to win the world championship, then the Slovenian successfully reoffended Sunday September 28, attacking 105 kilometers from the arrival in Mount Kigali (Rwanda). Accompanied by Mexican Isaac del Toro for a few kilometers, he finished the last 66 alone.
The first of them on a large race dates back to the 20th stage of the Vuelta in 2019. The Slovenian was only 20 years old, but had completed the last 37 kilometers between Arenas de San Pedro and PlataForma of Gedros alone. A first glance that has since confirmed on the day's races. On the Tour of Lombardy, of which he won the last four editions, the Slovenian traveled alone the last 48.4 kilometers in 2024.
He also shines on Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he was isolated in the Redoute coast, 34 kilometers from the finish, in 2024 and 2025. But his greatest demonstration took place on the Strade Bianche, in 2024, where the Slovenian attacked in the Sainte-Marie Monte sector, placed 81 kilometers from the finish, which did not frighten him.
On the Worlds, however, it was believed that the 2024 coup would remain unparalleled. Released from the peloton 101 kilometers from the arrival in Switzerland, he had been accompanied by his compatriot Jan Tratnik to return to the breakaway, before placing a new attack and finishing the last 51.7 kilometers alone. But Tadej Pogacar is surprising, and attacked even earlier, 105 kilometers from the finish line traced in Kigali. The Slovenian decided to place his decisive attack in Mount Kigali, leaving his main competitor Remco Evenepoel on site.
The latter may have hoped, with the Danish Mattias Skjelmose, that the scenario of the last Amstel Gold Race would happen again. Tadej Pogacar had presumed his strength and attacked 40 kilometers from the finish, before being taken up by the two men, for a victory of Skjelmose. But it was not on Sunday.
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“I think the race was drawn for that, explained the double world champion on arrival. I hoped that a small group formed with Juan Ayuso and Isaac Del Toro, it was the perfect combo because we come from the same team. We hoped to go further, but Juan had problems on the cobblestones, and Isaac had stomach problems, so I went solo and I am happy to have succeeded “.
Tadej Pogacar admits having doubted in the last laps of the formidable Kigali circuit, “Because the climbs were increasingly difficult over the laps, but you have to go through it and hope for the best”. Easy to say, less to do, but nothing seems impossible for the Slovenian “cannibal”. Like Eddy Merckx, he won the Tour de France and the Worlds the same year twice, but the Belgian had not achieved this feat on two consecutive years (in 1971 and 1974).
