National coaches of Evenepoel and Pogacar add to the suspense, but Dumoulin has different take on the World Championship Time Trial

The Slovenian team is understandably looking forward to the upcoming World Championships with great confidence. Pogacar is the defending champion in the road race, which is the finale of a week of racing in Rwanda. However, we start with the time trial, and according to Slovenian national coach Uroš Murn, it is no coincidence that Pogacar has also registered for the race against the clock.

"When Tadej saw the course, he knew immediately that he had a chance to win. We will see a duel between Remco Evenepoel and Pogacar,' Murn predicted to the Slovenian media. And why not? On his best days, Pogacar is a master at time trials. He won the climbing time trial in the Tour de France and was only 16 seconds behind Evenepoel in a flat Tour time trial.

The Belgian camp is taking Pogacar's participation very seriously. In a final preview on Sporza, Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels said: ‘We rate Tadej very highly. I put him alongside Evenepoel as the top favorite. He, too, has prepared specifically for this,’ said the head of the Belgian federation.

According to Pauwels, Evenepoel is in a good position, although the course does instill a little fear. ‘That cobbled climb in particular is more difficult than it looks on the profile. The altitude and the heat will affect their performance.’ The course is “straightforward the whole time,” but Evenepoel may want to make his move in the final. “We're going to put someone on the penultimate climb.”

Because, as Pauwels explained, the World Time Trial Championships can be won or lost in the final by good and less good time trialists. “Remco wanted some extra points for an intermediate time because you can really make a difference on that last climb. It will be the legs that have to do the talking, but knowing whether you are 1 or 2 seconds ahead or behind can make a difference.”

All that detailed talk is fun, but time trial specialist and former world champion Tom Dumoulin was quite clear in Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday morning: 'Normally, I think it will be Evenepoel again. Well, with quotation marks around ‘normal’, because of course it never is. He is the real specialist, while Pogacar is a climber who is good at time trials.“

”Indeed, Pogacar rode very well against the clock in the Tour, but before that in the Dauphiné, he was not good. So Pogacar is a bit hit and miss in time trials," Dumoulin said. “If you look at the time trials in the Tour, especially those with a lot of elevation gain, you think: Jonas Vingegaard could also become world time trial champion. And yet he's not competing, I think, because he knows he can't win a one-day time trial like that.”