Evenepoel races to third world title and utterly humiliates Pogacar, who misses the podium

After the women's race, where Marlen Reusser proved too strong for Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering, it was the men's turn in Kigali. They had to cover an extra 10 kilometers or so, and therefore more altitude meters. It couldn't really be called a climbing time trial, but the specialists were certainly at a disadvantage on the grueling course in the Rwandan capital.

Local hero Shemu Nsengiyumva was the first to start. The Rwandan rode a more than respectable time trial and was able to enjoy the hot seat for a long time. His time of 56 minutes and 41 seconds was only beaten by Florian Vermeersch, who finished almost two minutes faster. However, by the time the Belgian had finished, quite a few time trialists had already started. So it remained to be seen whether he would be able to stay in the hot seat for long.

The answer came quickly. Canadian Michael Leonard was already three-quarters of a minute faster, but Ilan Van Wilder was very, very fast. The Belgian had already set the best intermediate time everywhere and was a full 1.20 minutes faster than Leonard. Renowned time trialists such as Raúl García Pierna, Luke Plapp, and Matteo Sobrero could not keep up with the Belgian's pace.

Not much later, Remco Evenepoel also rolled off the starting block, which meant that everyone was on their way. Thymen Arensman was also doing well: he was 18 seconds slower than Isaac Del Toro at intermediate point 1, who in turn was 11 seconds faster than Van Wilder. But the challenging course could break anyone in the second part, especially the final climb with cobblestones.

At intermediate point 1, Bruno Armirail and Jay Vine, among others, recorded excellent intermediate times, giving them hope for a podium place. Pogacar was also fast, but had to concede a little less than a second to Del Toro. Could Evenepoel beat that? And how: the reigning world champion was no less than 45(!) seconds faster than his competitors after 10 kilometers of cycling...

This seemed to give the Olympic champion the knockout blow over Pogacar very early on, but the opening section suited the Belgian better. It was time to wait for the following intermediate times. Vine pulled away from Van Wilder in the battle for bronze, while Armirail lost ground. And Pogacar? He only recorded the second intermediate time, losing no less than 25 seconds to his Australian teammate.

Evenepoel arrived at that intermediate point not much later and set the record straight. Even on the climb, he was in a class of his own, where he was no less than 1.17 minutes faster than Vine. The difference with Pogacar was no less than 1 minute and 42 seconds, as he had to fear for his medal due to the strong Van Wilder. Del Toro came very close to the Belgian, but was 4 seconds short at the finish: what was possible here?

Evenepoel flew over the course in Rwanda. He had already stated beforehand that he was in top form, and when Evenepoel says something like that, you have to take him seriously. That proved to be the case once again: Pogacar, who started second to last, even had to fear complete humiliation. Would he be overtaken? At the halfway point, the fear became reality: Evenepoel was 30 seconds behind the Slovenian.

Meanwhile, Vine had knocked Van Wilder off the throne by no less than 1.22 minutes, but he could still hope for a medal. Pogacar had to ride a good final stretch, but Evenepoel was breathing down his neck. He saw him riding, and on the last cobbled climb he managed to deliver the knockout blow: he passed the top rider, but took him along behind him. Still, he fell short of the bronze by one second, which went to Van Wilder.