The climax of the 2024 UCI World Championships was reached on Sunday, September 29. The cities of Zurich and Winterthur played hosts to the elite men’s road race discipline and the professional cyclists would test themselves and their competitors on a 273.9-kilometer route, which would start with a seventy-kilometer ride from Winterthur, before the riders would reach a round stretch around the city of Zurich, where the race winner and new World Champion would be found. 

The Fall weather conditions had improved significantly, and the riders were competing under somewhat sunny skies and with temperatures about sixteen degrees Celsius. Winterthur is said to be the home of the happiest women in Switzerland and Switzerland’s most cycling-friendly city. Zurich is known for its magnificent historical architecture and for being one of the world’s most significant financial centers. 

The 2024 UCI World Championships organizers had not only chosen the longest route for a World Championships Road Race since many years - they had also designed a scenic route for the road race discipline, which would take the riders through hilly terrain, across eleven categorized climbs (Buch am Irchel, Kyburg, Suessblatz, Witikon), through forests and past Lake Greifen and Lake Zurich.

The longevity of the route and the relatively hilly terrain was expected to make the racing conditions optimal for Classics favorites, breakaway optimists, and the sprinters who prefer to win races from small group sprints. The route of the 2024 UCI World Championships Road Race had been praised by several cycling experts and analysts as it was expected to lay the foundation for an unpredictable race. 

Switzerland’s own national team roster for the event included Marc Hirschi, Stefan Küng, Silvan Dillier, and Mauro Schmid and they would all enjoy the opportunity to compete on well-known home soil. Great Britain, Slovenia, Spain, Belgium, USA, and France were sending strong team line-ups to the World Championships Road Race, and they were expected to be able to dominate the event.

Favorites to take the gold medal included Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Julian Alaphilippe (France), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Simon Yates (Great Britain), Stephen Williams (Great Britain), Pello Bilbao (Spain), Michael Matthews (Australia), Ben Healy (Ireland), and Marc Hirschi (Switzerland). Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose and Mads Pedersen were considered outsiders, but Skjelmose had suffered a painful muscular injury to his back during the morning hours of the race day.

Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) had won the elite women’s road race world championships event on Saturday, ahead of Chloe Dygert (USA) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy). Kopecky also won last year’s event.

The elite men’s World Road Race Championships race got off to a fast start and multiple breakaway attempts were launched in the first kilometers. Meanwhile, the first riders were being dropped from the back of the peloton, though these riders were from less experienced cycling nations.

Spain’s main contender for the victory in today’s race unfortunately crashed with approximately 220 kilometers left and appeared significantly affected by the crash.

France’s medal-contender Julian Alaphilippe also abandoned the race following a crash in which he suffered a dislocated left shoulder.

With 205 kilometers remaining, a six-man breakaway group had been established by Silvan Dillier (Switzerland), Tobias Foss (Norway), Simon Geschke (Germany), Rui Oliveira (Portugal), Piotr Pekala (Poland), and Luxembourg’s Luc Wirtgen. The six breakaway optimists had fought their way to a lead of more than five minutes over the chasing main peloton. Estonia’s Markus Pajur and Panama’s Roberto Carlos Gonzalez were chasing two minutes behind the front sextet and three minutes ahead of the main pack.

Riders from Slovenia, Italy, and Belgium were spearheading the chase and controlling the action in the main peloton.

Fans of Spain were rooting for Mikel Landa in today’s race, but alas the Spanish rider abandoned the race and would not become World Champion.

The pace in the main peloton had been increased by riders from the Belgian team when 170 kilometers remained. This had resulted in the peloton being stretched out on the small and hilly roads near Zurich, while the advantage of the front sextet had been reduced to four minutes.

The six riders in the breakaway group kept pushing their pedals with a lead of approximately four minutes over the main peloton with 135 kilometers remaining of today’s World Championships. Meanwhile, the attacking duo of Pajur and Gonzalez had proven unable to bridge the gap to the front group and had been reeled in by the main peloton, which was still spearheaded by riders from Belgium and Slovenia.

Spain’s Pablo Castrillo launched a brave solo attack from the main peloton on the Witikon climb with 130 kilometers remaining. Riders from Slovenia fought hard to close the gap.

Australia’s Jay Vine launched a counterattack when Castrillo was reeled in by the peloton. Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) also responded along with Magnus Cort (Denmark), Mattia Cattaneo (Italy), Stephen Williams (Great Britain), Florian Lipowitz (Germany), and Laurens de Plus (Belgium). This was a strong counterattack group.

The ten-man attacking group quickly formed a lead of approximately fifty seconds over the main peloton, while the front sextet was 01:21 minutes ahead of the attackers.

When 117 kilometers remained, the front sextet was three minutes ahead of the main peloton, while the strong ten-man counterattacking group was in between, with an advantage of two minutes over the main peloton, which featured the race favorites.

The ten-man attacking group continued to prove its strength and had closed the gap to the front sextet when 105 kilometers remained. Meanwhile, riders from Spain were responsible for the chase effort, as the nation did not have any riders in the breakaway group.

Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen and Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands) attacked from the main peloton with one hundred kilometers remaining. They were caught, but Ben Healy (Ireland) and Quinn Simmons (USA) tried their luck.

Primoz Roglic worked to close the gap to Simmons and then race favorite Tadej Pogacar launched a solo attack with 100.8-kilometers remaining. The Slovenian rider was apparently having another great day in the saddle.

Pogacar worked hard and Italy’s Andrea Bagioli went along, but did not contribute to the attack as he had Mattia Cattaneo in the front group.

Pogacar dropped Bagioli and was now chasing the front group solo with less than one hundred kilometers remaining. Fellow Slovenian countryman Jan Tratnik was in the front group and received instructions to wait for Pogacar. Pogacar joined Tratnik and the duo was now chasing the fifteen front riders that had a time advantage of just thirty seconds. What a remarkable feat from Pogacar and Tratnik. Pogacar never fails to impress in whatever race he is present.

With Tratnik having delivered the hard chase work for Pogacar, the Slovenian duo caught the front group with 91 kilometers remaining. What a stunning performance from Tratnik.

Prominent race favorites were spotted wearing FlowBio hydration sensors to further optimize their performance in today’s World Championships Road Race. 

Pogacar launched an attack from the front group with ninety kilometers left. He appeared to be trying to reduce the number of breakaway participants to create a stronger group, which could deliver a better effort by working better together. Meanwhile, riders from Belgium were leading the chase in the main peloton in support of Remco Evenepoel who had missed out when Pogacar launched his courageous and early attack.

Tratnik had completed his lead effort in the front group when the group reached the Bergstrasse with 79 kilometers remaining. Pogacar immediately launched an attack on the climb, which featured incline sections as steep as fourteen percent. No other rider was able to keep up with the Slovenian super star. 

Frenchman Pavel Sivakov managed to catch Tadej “The Canibal” Pogacar and the duo pressed on together. With 75 kilometers remaining, the duo had an advantage of fifty seconds over Kevin Vermaerke (USA) and Florian Lipowitz (Germany). Other riders from the breakaway were getting swept up by the chasing main peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from Belgium and the Netherlands.

Remco Evenepoel ad Mathieu van der Poel launched an attack attempt from the main peloton with 72 kilometers remaining but were unable to form a gap.

Later a twelve-man group broke away from the main peloton and initiated a chase hoping to bridge the gap to the Pogacar-Sivakov front duo. The group was later joined by additional riders and included Ben Healy (Ireland), Kevin Vermaerke (USA), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Marc Hirschi (Switzerland), Ben O’Connor (Australia), Jai Hindley (Australia), Frederik Wandahl (Denmark), Mads Pedersen (Denmark), Enric Mas (Spain), Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Bauke Mollema (Netherlands), and Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands).

With sixty kilometers remaining, the Pogacar-Sivakov duo had an advantage of 42 seconds over the chasers. But much racing remained before the new World Champion would be crowned. 

While Pogacar left Sivakov behind with slightly more than fifty kilometers remaining of the 2024 UCI World Championships Road Race, Oscar Onley (Great Britain), Ben Healy, and Toms Skujins (Latvia) were chasing forty seconds behind. Van der Poel was chasing solo 54 seconds behind Pogacar, while a trio geaturing Wandahl, Vermaerke, and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway) were 56 seconds back.

As Onley had been dropped on the Bergstrasse climb, Healy and Skujins had formed a chase duo when 47 kilometers remained. Van der Poel and Onley were now chasing further back, and Evenepoel, Hirschi, and Jorgenson were in chase group three.

Pogacar was still solo in front on his custom-made Colnago bike when forty kilometers remained of today’s world championships race in scenic Switzerland. Pogacar attempted to grab a bottle and energy gel in the service zone but failed. He now had to hope to receive service from his team car and it did not take long before Tadej the Canibal received more food he could consume.

Tadej Pogacar was still firing on all engines when thirty kilometers were left of today’s World Championships Road Race. He appeared unstoppable. Healy and Skujins were one minute behind the Slovenian rider and a larger group was 01:23 minutes back.

The riders entered the final lap, and everything was status quo at this point. Pogacar was receiving unbelievable applause from the many spectators while climbing. What a stunning and admirable performance by the 26-year-old Slovenian.

Hirschi and Romain Bardet launched an attack from group three with 23 kilometers remaining. Bardet was unable to follow Hirschi and the Swiss rider continued his effort to bridge the gap to Healy and Skujins. 

With twenty kilometers remaining, Pogacar was still solo in front. Healy and Skujins were 48 seconds behind. Hirschi was 57 seconds behind, and Enric Mas has launched an attack 01:01 minutes back.

Pogacar was still solo with twelve kilometers left of the championship race. He appeared tired and now only had a lead of 39 seconds. His lead had increased to 52 seconds with ten kilometers remaining. He was 46 seconds ahead with just five kilometers left. Meanwhile, Healy and Skujins had been caught by Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, and Ben O’Connor. Other riders joined and the fight for silver and bronze was now wide open.

Ben Healy tried to drop Mathieu van der Poel because the Dutch rider would be faster than Healy in a bunch sprint across the finish line. Ben O’Connor counterattacked and opened a gap.

Tadej Pogacar entered the final kilometer with a time advantage of forty-five seconds and proved the fastest man on the day. The Slovenian star cyclist crossed the finish line on his white Colnago bike in 06:27:30 and is the new UCI World Road Race Champion.

Ben O’Connor was next across the finish line and took the silver medal for Australia. The fight for bronze was the decided in a small bunch sprint in which Mathieu van der Poel proved the strongest rider for the Netherlands.

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