Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and second place finisher Tadej Pogacar celebrate on the podium in Paris after completing the last stage. Turns out the break didn’t last long.
Pogačar confirmed this week that he will line up for Slovenia in the men’s road race at the UCI world championships, which begins Thursday in Scotland with the first track events and continues for the next 10 days. It will be the first time that cycling’s world governing body holds nearly all of its championships at one time and in one place, which UCI President David Lappartient hopes will build some momentum for the sport heading into next year’s Paris Olympics.
The course for the men’s road race hardly suits Pogačar’s climbing ability, but the 24-year-old will nonetheless join seven of his countrymen in contesting Sunday’s race. It will begin in Edinburgh and head toward Glasgow, where most of the events are to be conducted, and features the kind of punchy climbs that favor the stars of the one-day classics.
That means names such as Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen figure to be near the front, though a U.S. team fresh off plenty of Tour success will try to animate the race and perhaps catch the more powerful teams off guard.
“We have three leaders, with Wout and Jasper, who are more for the sprint, and there’s me, who is capable of attacking from distance like last year,” said Evenepoel, the reigning champion, after […]
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