Cycling World Championships: Pogacar absent, McNulty (his team-mate) wins
The US team put in a splendid performance: as well as McNulty’s first place, Simmons finished fourth and Jorgenson eighth, ahead of Ciccone
It’s clearly fate. In the end, even though he isn’t here, we still have to talk about Tadej Pogacar. The World Championships in Montreal – which the Slovenian missed due to a nasty crash in the Vuelta – were won by his American team-mate, the American Brandon McNulty, who was crowned world champion at the end of a race that was as spectacular as it was mad, in which all the top riders battled it out without ever landing the decisive blow.
In this heart-stopping race, the only rider to seize the moment was McNulty, who skilfully broke away on a solo effort 32 kilometres from the finish line. The American, an excellent time-trialist, also known as ‘the man from the desert’ because he was born 28 years ago in Phoenix, Arizona, crossed the line alone, 13 seconds ahead of the Australian Michael Matthews and the Dutchman Van Der Poel, who were among the most combative riders in the final stretch. The best of the Italian riders was Giulio Ciccone from Abruzzo, who finished ninth but remained among the front-runners with the leading group throughout.
Among the defeated, alongside Van Der Poel himself – who made too many breakaways (one as far as 100 km from the finish) which sapped his energy in the final stages – the Belgians must be mentioned in particular; they were considered favourites at the start, alongside Evenepoel, following Pogacar’s withdrawal.
No luck. For Evenepoel, already a world time trial champion, the race got off to a bad start straight away. On several occasions – perhaps due to cramp or some other physical problem – he lost ground, only managing to fight his way back into the leading positions with great difficulty. He finished twelfth – a disappointing result, nonetheless. “It wasn’t a good day,” commented the Belgian. “I was hoping to come through in the end, but the course – which was very selective – didn’t allow me to.”
It was also a lacklustre performance from the Frenchman Paul Seixas, who had been tipped as a favourite going into the race but crossed the finish line completely exhausted (15th). Del Toro fared better (fifth), having been on the attack for most of the race.
