On a cobblestone climb in the center of Kigali, something happened on Sunday that no one had thought possible: Tadej Pogacar was passed by. On the Côte de Kimihurura, known for its many bars and restaurants, there was suddenly a rider 2.1 kilometers before the finish who treated him to the ultimate humiliation in cycling: being overtaken during the time trial. That rider was Remco Evenepoel from Belgium.
With his statement on the cobblestones, Evenepoel became world champion time trial for the third time in a row – an achievement that he marked at the finish with three stuffed fingers. Jay Vine from Australia was second. Ilan van Wilder – also a Belgian and in daily life a teammate of Evenepoel – finished in third place. But the most surprising was the man in fourth place, outside the stage: Tadej Pogacar.
Pogacar has been the best cyclist in the world for years. He is the reigning world champion on the road and won the Tour de France for the fourth time this summer. At this World Cup in Rwanda he hoped to win gold twice – at the time trial and again on the road. That went differently. Already at the first measuring point he was 45 seconds slower than Evenepoel – and that eventually rose to no less than 2 minutes and 37 seconds at the finish.
In the presence of collected journalists, Pogacar showed a good loser afterwards. That he had been overtaken by Evenepoel was “of course swallowing pretty well,” but “Remco is Remco. He is so fast in the time trial.” As an explanation for his disappointing performance, he gave a loss of time trial training that he had sustained due to illness. “But my training for the road race did not suffer.” Pogacar said that Evenepoel “had trained 100 percent for today and 99 percent is ready for next Sunday” – when the road race is held.
Disappointing year
Evenepoel is the best time rider in the world – last year he won gold in that discipline at both the World Cup and the Olympic Games. But unlike Pogacar, he had a disappointing year so far. A fall in the winter ensured that he started the season with a training arrears. In the Tour de France he stepped down disappointed after two weeks. Nevertheless, Evenepoel was in Rwanda in the days before the time trial full of confidence. He, he said in interviews, was in his “best form of the season.” That turned out not to be a bluff.
Evenepoel did not make a number of his catching up on Pogacar afterwards. His rival passing by “had not been the biggest goal of the day” and he mainly wanted to “make it no bigger than it,” he said during the press conference. Did he not feel any satisfaction at the moment itself? “No, especially pain. I just wanted to go as soon as possible.”
Thymen Arensman, the only Dutch participant in the time trial, finished ninth.