Pogačar (UAE) vs Evenepoel (Red Bull): records fall as rivals unleash monster distances
CyclingSaturday, 20 December 2025 at 10:55
The holidays are coming, also for the riders. Piece by piece, the WorldTour pros worked out some solid training, mostly with their team during the conclusion of a training camp. Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel made the blitz with UAE Emirates-XRG and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe on Friday, in a far puddle race.
Like a year ago, Pogacar attacked the Strava-KOM (read: the record time) on the wildly popular Coll de Rates in Spain and rode his top time from 2024 out of the books, becoming the very first rider to dip under 12 minutes. Like last year, his entire UAE team was there to pace him, including Mexican champion Isaac Del Toro. The last bit Pogacar did alone.
The Strava records were flying around our ears and thus determined the news, especially when Unibet Rose Rockets got involved. That, however, ignores the monstrous training that Pogacar continued to complete with his teammates. The Coll de Rates was only a small part of a day that totaled 226.11 kilometers and had 4,302 altimeters.
In that training, by the way, we saw two more Strava-KOMs pass by. Because since Friday, Pogacar is also the record holder on the climbing segments 'CASTELL DE CASTELLS-FACHECA' and'CV710 to Confrides'. Both segments of just over 9 kilometers (9.63 and 9.06 that is) were broken by 1.03 minutes (!) and 10 seconds respectively.
Continue reading below the video
Evenepoel goes even further than Pogacar and also breaks a record
Kudos and a deep bow for Pogacar's star formation, but they also did impressive things at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe on Friday, Dec. 19. Evenepoel led a sizeable classics group to test the legs. 'If you don't do the classics, you have to train them,' the Belgian world time trial champion wrote at his Strava file.
'One of those out-of-control coffee rides,' Evenepoel further joked. What that meant: 243.71 kilometers, 1,660 altimeters and a total of 6 hours on the bike. This makes Pogacar, with over 4,000 altimeters, look like the winner of the far peeing contest, especially when we see that Evenepoel's only Strava-KOM was only on a flat segment of 1.27 kilometers.
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Latest Comments
- Those events are mental rest for him. Fun, without expectations. *Sagan lost his abilities because he gained weight and got lazy. Pogi will likely retire before that has a chance at happening.Veganpotter14-12-2025
- Ah, the consequences of riding for Israel.Veganpotter11-12-2025
- Pidcock could follow everyone but Pogi while finishing 3rd. No second place rider this season😃Veganpotter16-11-2025
- Now the Palestinian protestors can stop their whining. Trump came to the rescue. So they can now STFU and go back to waving the rainbow flags.raufus15-10-2025
- Cracked the code lol. If it was that easy to 'crack the code' jonny Vegas would be charging up the Kwaremont giving Pog a dose of his medicine. Evenepoel can't match pog on a climb and neither can mvdp. Anything with a half difficult climb and Pog smashes the field. Even on flat(ish)parcours like Roubaix it came down to a mistake and crash by pog to definitively crown mvdp. MSR is the only one that Pog probably won't win.kevpt10-10-2025
- We've seen this movie before. I think Pogacar is doping.DeadBlow10-10-2025
- 👍Bea08-10-2025
- 👌🏻Bea08-10-2025
- What the data doesn't show is how much of an effect drafting had for evenepoel. Pogacar went with del toro at 100km whilst Evenepoel was still in the bunch. Despite the bike changes he still had a lot of assistance getting back to the bunch. Pogacar then rode 60km solo whilst evenepoel rode with Healy/Skjelmose until going solo in thd last 10-15km. Thats ~20% less power / energy requirements for 45-50km. Apples and oranges...kevpt30-09-2025
- 👏👏Bea24-09-2025
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