Alaphilippe, Evenepoel, Van der Poel and Pogacar: the last five men’s world champions

A year after claiming his first world title in Imola, Julian Alaphilippe arrived in Flanders wearing the rainbow jersey. The 268 km from Antwerp to Leuven was lined with Belgian flags and expectation, but once again it was the Frenchman who dominated.

On the closing laps of the city circuit he attacked repeatedly, breaking the resolve of the home nation. His third move, on the cobbled slope of the Sint-Antoniusberg, proved fatal.

With 20 seconds in hand, he stormed through the final kilometres as the Belgian chase collapsed. On Leuven’s rise to the finish, he savoured a second consecutive world title, becoming the first rider since Peter Sagan to successfully defend the rainbow jersey.

The coastal city of Wollongong belonged to Remco Evenepoel. With 25 km to go, he left Alexey Lutsenko behind on Mount Pleasant and rode alone to the finish.

Behind him, the race was over. His lead kept growing and by the time he crossed the line, it was more than two minutes. Christophe Laporte took silver, with Michael Matthews third.

For Belgium, it was a first men’s world title in a decade. For Evenepoel, it completed a remarkable season after victories at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Vuelta a España, confirming his place among cycling’s biggest names.

Glasgow offered a spectacle on narrow, rain-slicked streets, and Mathieu van der Poel thrived in the chaos. The decisive quartet was the sport’s pantheon - van der Poel, van Aert, Pogačar, Pedersen - but only one had the legs to break free. Van der Poel attacked with 22 km left, opening a gap that looked precarious until his rivals hesitated. 

On a technical corner he crashed hard, tearing his jersey and shoe, yet remounted immediately and pressed on. Fueled by adrenaline, he extended his lead to over a minute and entered George Square alone, finally a world champion. 

The first Dutchman to wear the rainbow since Joop Zoetemelk in 1985, he finally claimed the jersey that had long eluded his famous family.

In Zurich, Tadej Pogačar made his move with more than 100 km still to race. He attacked from the peloton and, with help from Slovenian teammate Jan Tratnik, bridged across to the breakaway.

From there, Pavel Sivakov was the only rider able to stay with him. Pogačar eventually dropped the Frenchman with just over 50 km remaining and set off alone.

The gap was never entirely comfortable, but no chase managed to bring him back. Ben O’Connor eventually escaped from behind to take second, 34 seconds down, while Mathieu van der Poel won the sprint for bronze.

For Pogačar, it was Slovenia’s first men’s road world title. Having already won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France that year, he became only the third rider to complete the Giro, Tour and World Championship treble in the same season.

The first World Championships held in Africa produced one of the most attritional men’s road races in years. Across 267.5 kilometres through Kigali, only 30 of the 165 starters reached the finish.

A week earlier, Remco Evenepoel had caught and passed Pogačar in the time trial despite starting two and a half minutes behind him. This time, Pogačar struck first. He attacked on Mont Kigali with 104 kilometres remaining, with only Juan Ayuso able to follow. Isaac del Toro joined them on the descent before setting the pace on the cobbled Mur de Kigali, where Ayuso was dropped.

Pogačar and Del Toro continued together until the Mexican could no longer follow with around 67 kilometres remaining. From there, Pogačar was alone. “It wasn’t the original plan, to attack so far out,” he said afterwards. “The boys tried to stop me, but I felt so good.”

Behind him, Evenepoel lost time to two mechanical problems and twice had to change bikes. He recovered to catch the main chase before dropping Mattias Skjelmose and Ben Healy with 21 kilometres to go. Evenepoel finished second, 1:28 behind Pogačar, while Healy took bronze at 2:16, Ireland’s first elite men’s road race medal at the Worlds since Sean Kelly in 1989.

For Pogačar, it was a second consecutive rainbow jersey. He became the first rider since Julian Alaphilippe in 2021 to successfully defend the men’s road race world title.