Cycling: Tadej Pogacar is the new world champion. The Slovenian won the gold medal in the road race by attacking 100 kilometers from the finish and could not be caught. Silver and bronze respectively go to Ben O'Connor from Australia and Mathieu van der Poel from the Netherlands.
Pogacar is unbeatable
He once again caused a sensation and impressively dominated a cycling race: Tadej Pogacar. After his victories at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, the Slovenian has now also been crowned world champion. With an attack more than 100 kilometers from the finish, he left all his rivals behind and never caught him. Behind him, the chasers were divided, although the gap never exceeded 80 seconds. Thus, the chasing pack was only competing for silver and bronze, which Ben O'Connor from Australia and last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel from the Netherlands can be pleased with. In the winner's interview, Pogacar appeared very relieved and even called it a "stupid attack ." His early attack had not been planned.
Lipowitz & Geschke in the escape group
The German team, led by manager André Greipel, established an excellent position during the first half of the race. Simon Geschke formed the day's breakaway group with Swiss rider Silvan Dillier, Norwegian Tobias Foss, Portuguese rider Rui Oliveira, Luxembourger Luc Wirtgen , and Pole Piotr Pekala . Subsequently, another ten riders broke away from the peloton, including German Florian Lipowitz, Australian Jay Vine, Belgian Laurens de Plus , and Slovenian Jan Tratnik.
Pogacar lets the madness break out
After the 16 riders from both breakaway groups merged, the Slovenian national team increased the pace in the peloton. With 100 kilometers to go, Tadej Pogacar launched an attack – seemingly to the surprise of all his rivals. The Slovenian favorite, who had already won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France this year, immediately opened up a gap. No one could follow him. His compatriot Jan Tratnik waited for him and then brought him to the front of the leading group. 80 kilometers later, Pogacar attacked again, leaving all but his former breakaway companions behind. The peloton seemed to panic. The Belgians, Dutch, and Americans tried to limit the gap to Pogacar. But the domestiques were already tired, and the constant attacks from each other hampered the chase.
O'Connor wins silver ahead of Van der Poel
After numerous attacks from the chasing pack, Australian Ben O'Connor managed to break away shortly before the finish. He will likely be very satisfied with his silver medal after a grueling Vuelta a España. Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel sprinted to third place, but as the defending champion, he won't be entirely happy with that result. Marc Hirschi, Switzerland's hope, finished sixth. Despite a good starting position, the Germans missed out on the top ten.
What about the journey to… 100 kilometers of arrival? Tadej Pogacar!
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Tadej Pogacar proclaimed the World Cup with one of the mayor's exhibitions of history and complete the triple Giro, Tour and Mundial.
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