Tadej Pogacar (left) and Remco Evenepoel fight for the rainbow jersey. © APA/afp / JASPER JACOBS

Evenepoel vs. Pogacar: The duel of all-rounders

As a warm-up for the World Cup, defending champion Remco Evenepoel quickly climbed the Pyrenean giant Tourmalet. Finally, on Sunday there will be a duel over 271,1 kilometers between the all-rounders and Tadej Pogacar, who, after initial hesitation, is now tackling the race for the rainbow jersey as a replacement for his missed victory in the Tour de France.

August 03, 2023

From: dpa

Such mountains cannot be overcome in the road race at the Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, but an extra session can't hurt the exceptional Belgian rider. Evenepoel vs. Pogacar – it is the duel between two cycling talents of the century, both of whom are believed to be the successors to the legendary Eddy Merckx. At 23 and 24 years old respectively, the two young stars - in contrast to Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard - feel comfortable on all routes and have already achieved major victories in both classics and tours. Quite a few experts believe that this duel will shape the next decade in cycling.

But who is the best? The classic duel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was canceled in the spring due to Pogacar's serious fall and a broken scaphoid bone and could now be rescheduled in Scotland. When it comes to the tour, there will be a big showdown between Vingegaard, Pogacar and Evenepoel in 2024. “I have already achieved the watt values ​​of Jonas and Tadej on the tour. But they did it every day. Both have reached an incredibly high level. Now it's up to me to close the gap. I hope I can compete with them in 2024,” says Evenepoel. With a view to the new competition, Pogacar speaks of “a great future in cycling”.

Both in top form

After his Vuelta victory in 2022, Evenepoel wanted to win the Giro d'Italia this year as a precursor to the Tour, but Rosa's plan failed due to a corona infection. But he has long since returned to top form, as he proved last weekend with his third victory in the difficult Clásica San Sebastián. And it was important to Pogacar on the Tour to put an exclamation mark after his collapse in the Alps with the stage win in the Vosges. He has “found his smile again”.

Tadej Pogacar wants his first world title. © APA/afp / THOMAS SAMSON

The two young stars have already achieved 16 (Pogacar) and 9 (Evenepoel) victories this season. Two drivers who have always been ahead of their time. The Slovenian won three Vuelta stages at the age of 20, something no one else had achieved at that age. At 21 years and 365 days, he became the second youngest winner in tour history in 2020. A triumph that he repeated in 2021, after which he finished second twice behind Vingegaard. And Evenepoel, who was still a national football player for the Belgian juniors at the age of 16 and ran the half marathon in an almost unbelievable 1:16:15 hours, became world champion, like his famous compatriot Merckx, at the age of just 22 last year in Australia.

“My form is right,” says the defending champion. The strong Belgian team with classic specialist Wout van Aert and Tour sprint king Jasper Philipsen could prove to be an advantage. Pogacar, on the other hand, is virtually a lone fighter because compatriot Primoz Roglic is preparing for the Vuelta. But the young Slovenian star hasn't been idle in the last few days. During training, he climbed the Col de la Madone near Monaco in a record time of 23:53 minutes, according to his Strava account. So the stage is set for a big duel.