Zonneveld predicts major impact of "iconic humiliation" for Pogacar in road race: "He’s not in good shape"

“Holy shit, he was so good,” were Zonneveld's words about Evenepoel in his podcast In de Waaier. The Belgian won by 1.17 minutes ahead of Jay Vine, who finished second. Pogacar finished 2.37 minutes behind, one place short of the podium, but being overtaken by his rival will have more impact. “It must have hurt.”

The difference was already made after 10 kilometers: the defending champion had a 45-second lead at the first intermediate point. “Evenepoel started as if he were on a rocket. And then you start to think: suppose he keeps this up until the end, then he'll come very close to Pogacar. But for it to actually happen, the fact that Tadej Pogacar is overtaken by a rider who started 2.30 behind him...”

On paper, it was Pogacar's best performance at a World Championship time trial, but it was also the first time he had ambitions at the start. And then the Slovenian often finds it harder to accept defeat. “How often has Pogacar been beaten like this? It's such a big blow, such a big humiliation, that it's iconic,” said Zonneveld.

He does see that Evenepoel had the advantage in the preparation. “The difference is that Pogacar has been busy all year, riding from one big goal to another since the beginning of March. He was great in the spring classics and the Tour, but then he ran out of steam a bit. Evenepoel started the season with a lot of problems, didn't do well in the Tour, and dropped out. His peak comes later in the season.”

Pogacar took a break after the Tour de France to focus on preparing for the World Cycling Championships in Rwanda. Extra training on the time trial bike, the GP Québec, and GP Montréal should have brought him up to the desired level, but illness disrupted it all: he was unable to complete the block on the time trial bike.

According to Zonneveld, Pogacar also encountered another disadvantage in Canada. "I understand that those laps in Canada are really useful; they are World Championship-like courses. I understand that he wanted to ride two more races, but you do end up with double jet lag. I really wonder to what extent those races are the ideal preparation."

Zonneveld is not too worried about the road race: Pogacar will just be there. “I do think he will be in better physical shape on Sunday than he is today. And I think he's right that missing that time trial block has had an impact. But even if he had done it, if he hadn't been ill and had been in top form today, he still wouldn't have beaten Evenepoel.”

Moreover, the former rider thinks that the defending champion is not completely fit for the road race. "He's not that good; he's not at his best. But he's still Pogacar, and he can still win the race, break away solo in the final laps, and ride to victory. But he's not at his best, and you could see that in Canada too."

The result also has Tour implications for Zonneveld, who will always list Pogacar as the top favorite. “But when you see this, you think: guys, just put in 100 kilometers of time trials in next year's Tour, then it will be fun again!” laughs the sports director of BEAT Cycling. “One of 47, one of 43, and a prologue of 10, like in the Wiggins years.”

However, it wasn't all praise from Zonneveld. He wasn't happy with the list of participants. "What a disappointing list of participants. If you watched that time trial, it was pointless. The first half of the time trial... I understand the background, and it's a sport that requires a lot of money, knowledge, and facilities. But for an hour, I thought, ‘What on earth was I watching?’”