Mathieu van der Poel knows a thing or two about the genre, but even he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing as Tadej Pogačar soloed to a crushing victory at the Road World Championships in Zürich.
On arriving in the press room on Sunday evening, Van der Poel could only smile when the question arrived. Pogačar’s exhibition, the Dutchman conceded, had been in a different register even to the remarkable lone effort that had carried him to the rainbow jersey in Glasgow last year.
“I went a bit later than Pogačar… It’s difficult to describe how strong he is,” said Van der Poel, who won the sprint for the bronze medal on a demanding course that most would have placed towards the upper limit of his capabilities on this terrain.
That thinking surely guided Van der Poel’s approach when Pogačar careered onto the offensive with 100km still to race. At that precise moment, Van der Poel found himself next to his sometimes training partner Evenepoel, and they both deemed it best to hope Pogačar punched himself out rather than respond immediately with blows of their own.
“I saw him going, but my plan was to try to save as much energy as possible,” Van der Poel said. “I think that’s normally the key to a good World Championships, to save your energy. When Belgium took control, I really thought they were going to close it. But I think in the end, Tadej was just too strong for everybody.
“I’m pretty sure if you ask Tadej, I don’t think that attack was his plan either. He was really strong, but when he went, I didn’t think he would make it, especially when Belgium was taking control, but he proved us all wrong
