photo credits @ WTFK
Tadej Pogacar produced a 75-kilometer solo attack that earned the Slovenian rider the victory in today’s European Championships Elite Men’s road race with another dominant display, leaving Remco Evenepoel unable to follow his rival’s attack once again.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Paul Sexus provided a perfect late attack to give France a home medal with bronze.
Race Highlights
As all of his rivals predicted, Pogacar would attack with 70 kilometers remaining on the third ascent of Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps.
With over 100 kilometers remaining, Evenepoel forced the pace resulting in Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark) getting dropped, with Pogacar eventually getting isolated.
The world champion waited until the 6.7-kilometer long Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps with sections of 12% gradient before powering clear.
Evenepoel was later joined by Sexus, Christian Scaroni and Juan Ayuso as the world champion pulled out his winning margin.
However, Evenepoel regrouped and powered away from the remaining chasers and reduced Pogacar’s gap to one minute.
Still, Pogacar remained outside of Evenepoel’s grasp, forcing the Belgian to settle for silver, while Sexus launched a blistering attack on the final climb to distance both Ayuso and then Scaroni for third.
“I tried to keep a good gap of around one minute, I know it’s a comfortable gap. I don’t think it was super dominant as Remco (Evenepoel) was really good and always chasing me. I couldn’t give up until the finish-line and had to push really hard. I’m happy it’s over and another title. We knew that the race would be the hardest on the third climb, I saw there was four or five Belgians and I was alone for the team. It was better to be on the attack than with too many guys who can attack you,” Pogacar after his victory.
“We could see him (Pogacar), but at first there was quite low co-operation with France and Italy, I don’t know why. They decided not to pull in the group and to pull in the group behind, for me that made no sense. I tried to help Remco (Evenepoel) to fight for the win, but I was also on the limit. Remco was also strongest in the group and went ahead, said Pogacar’s former teammate Ayuso.
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