World Cycling Championships: Evenepoel vs. Pogacar - duel of the all-rounders

As a warm-up for the World Cycling Championships, defending champion Remco Evenepoel quickly climbed the giant Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.

Tadej Pogacar at the start of the 2023 World Cycling Championships

Such mountains are not to be conquered in the road race at the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow, but an extra training session can't hurt the exceptional Belgian rider. After all, Sunday's 271.1 kilometre race will also see a duel between the all-rounders and Tadej Pogacar, who, after initial hesitation, will now tackle the race for the rainbow jersey as a replacement for his missed victory at the Tour de France.

>> Preview of the road races

Evenepoel vs. Pogacar - it's a duel between two of cycling's talents of the century, both of whom are expected to succeed the legendary Eddy Merckx. At 23 and 24 respectively, the two young stars - unlike Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard - feel at home on all routes and have already claimed major victories in both classics and tours. Quite a few experts believe that this duel will characterise the next decade in cycling.

Glasgow 2023 World Cycling Championships: compensation for Pogacar's Tour slump?

But who is the best? The classics duel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was cancelled in the spring due to Pogacar's serious crash and a broken navicular bone and could now be rescheduled in Scotland. In terms of the Tour, Vingegaard, Pogacar and Evenepoel are set to face off in 2024. "I've already equalled Jonas and Tadej's wattage in the Tour. But they did it every day. Both have reached an incredibly high level. Now it's up to me to close the gap. I hope that I can compete with them in 2024," says Evenepoel. With a view to the new competition, Pogacar speaks of "a great future in cycling".

After his Vuelta victory in 2022, Evenepoel wanted to win the Giro d'Italia this year as a precursor to the Tour, but his plan for Rosa fell through due to a coronavirus infection. However, he has long since returned to top form, as he proved last weekend with his third victory in the tough Clásica San Sebastián. And it was important for Pogacar to make a statement at the Tour after his collapse in the Alps by winning a stage in the Vosges. He has "found his smile again".

Evenepoel & Pogacar: Numerous victories

The two young stars have already notched up 16 (Pogacar) and 9 (Evenepoel) victories respectively this season. Two riders who have always been ahead of their time. The Slovenian won three Vuelta stages at the age of 20, something no one else has managed to do at that age. At 21 years and 365 days old, he became the second youngest winner in Tour de France history in 2020. A triumph he repeated in 2021, after which he finished second twice behind Vingegaard. And Evenepoel, who was still a national football player for the Belgian juniors at the age of 16 and ran the half marathon in an almost unbelievable 1:16:15, became world champion in Australia last year at the age of just 22, just like his famous compatriot Merckx.

"My form is right," says the defending champion. The strong Belgian team with classics specialist Wout van Aert and Tour sprint king Jasper Philipsen could prove to be an advantage. Pogacar, on the other hand, is more or less travelling as a lone rider because compatriot Primoz Roglic is preparing for the Vuelta. However, the young Slovenian star has not been idle in the last few days. In training, he rode up the Col de la Madone near Monaco in a record time of 23:53 minutes, as reported on his Strava account. The stage is therefore set for a big duel at the 2023 World Cycling Championships in Glasgow.

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