Kigali carnage: record-low finishers at the World Championships this century

The scale of the race was reflected in the gaps as well: Pogačar put nearly seven minutes into fifth-placed Toms Skujiņš, while Eritrea’s Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier rolled in last, more than twelve minutes down.

Those numbers told only part of the story. The suffering was written just as clearly in the riders’ own words after the finish.

Toms Skujinš, who finished fifth, described it as “a triathlon in the end. Everybody finished by themselves.” Mattias Skjelmose, fourth at the line, admitted: “It was incredibly hard, there was no tactic at all. It was only about the legs.” And Tom Pidcock, tenth, was equally frank: “This was the most unpleasant race of the year. I suffered so much. It was brutal.”

Rwanda’s first time hosting the Worlds was a landmark occasion, and the land of a thousand hills offered a course that proved brutally selective: 5,475 metres of climbing – more than any Worlds circuit this century – layered on top of altitude, suffocating heat, unrelenting sun and the haze of Kigali’s air. From the opening laps, the tempo was savage, and the combination proved unforgiving. It drove the peloton to breaking point and produced a torrent of abandonments.

With only 30 finishers, just 18.2% of the peloton made it to the line, the smallest proportion recorded in a men’s Worlds road race this century. Until now, the lowest rate had come in Harrogate in 2019, when Mads Pedersen triumphed in torrential rain and biting cold, with only 46 of 195 starters reaching the finish (23.6%). Behind that come Glasgow 2023 with 26.2% (51 of 195), Doha 2016 with 26.8% (53 of 198), and Florence 2013 with 29.2% (61 of 209).

At the other end of the scale, Copenhagen 2011 saw 177 of 210 starters make it to the finish (84.3%), the highest finishing rate of the century. Zolder 2002 was close behind with 168 of 202 riders (83.2%) reaching the line. Madrid 2005 rounds out the top three, with 135 of 188 riders (71.8%) finishing.

If Copenhagen, Zolder and Madrid showed the Worlds at their most inclusive, Kigali revealed its most brutal face. It will be remembered not only as the stage of Pogačar’s dominance, but also as the most selective World Championships road race of the 21st century and a new benchmark for attrition at the Worlds.