"The job is done": World Championships favorite Evenepoel completes intense training on "one of the most beautiful laps I ever did"

Evenepoel was crowned world time trial champion for the third time last Sunday. The rider, who is still only 25 years old, crushed the competition and humiliated Tadej Pogacar by overtaking him. This Sunday, Evenepoel will be aiming for his second world title in the road race. Evenepoel won his first rainbow jersey in the road race three years ago in Wollongong, Australia.

In the run-up to the road race, Evenepoel completed a tough training session on Thursday on the Rwandan roads around the capital Kigali, the rider shared on Strava. Evenepoel got on his bike for a four-and-a-half-hour training session, covering 163 kilometers and gaining more than 2,600 meters of elevation. The Belgian ace enjoyed himself along the way. Evenepoel called the training ride “one of the most beautiful laps I ever did.”

Along the way, Evenepoel tested his legs on a 5.7-kilometer climb with a 6.6 percent gradient. The climb is comparable to Mont Kigali, which the riders will have to conquer in the road race, about 110 kilometers from the finish. Evenepoel recorded a KOM with a time of 14 minutes and 59 seconds. That was just under half a minute faster than his teammate Junior Lecerf, who recently finished an impressive Vuelta a España in eleventh place in the overall classification.

Before the elite men conclude the World Championships on Sunday with the road race, several other categories will compete. On Friday morning, the junior men will ride the road race, followed by the U23 men in the afternoon. On Saturday morning, it will be the turn of the junior women. The elite women's race will follow in the afternoon. The first road race, for the U23 women, was won on Thursday by France's Célia Gery.