World Cycling Championships: Pogacar vs Evenepoel - duel of the talents of the century?
DPA
· 23.09.2022
Remco Evenepoel already has his biggest rivals in the battle for the World Championship crown on his radar. "The birds," joked the young Belgian star.
Click through: The previous world champions of the 2022 World Cycling Championships
Evenepoel has already made the unpleasant acquaintance of the "Angry Birds" at the Road Cycling World Championships in Wollongong. After all, the magpies are notorious for their attacks on cyclists and pedestrians during the mating season in the Australian spring.
On Sunday, however, other calibres await in the super-difficult 266.9-kilometre road race. Like Tadej Pogacar, for example. And so it could come to the first big duel between the two cycling prodigies. Here is the 22-year-old Evenepoel, who won the Winning the Vuelta has just won his first Grand Tour and is regarded in his native Belgium as the greatest promise since the legendary Eddy Merckx. There Pogacar, just 24 years old and already with two Tour-de-France-victories and a second place this summer.
Evenepoel fights his way back after a heavy fall
Quite a few experts believe that this duel will shape the next decade in cycling. Evenepoel's disastrous crash during the Tour of Lombardy in August 2020 was the reason why the big showdown did not take place sooner. He crashed over a bridge wall and suffered a broken pelvis and a bruised lung. He only returned to the race track nine months later.
Evenepoel has long since returned to his old form. He has already notched up 14 victories in 2022. So it's just as well that Pogacar hasn't yet put the season behind him after his somewhat sobering second place at the Tour behind Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard. "We're all thinking about the gold medal. I have the chance to win the World Championships. It's a special competition," said the Slovenian, who recently won the Grand Prix in Montreal won.
Evenepoel - a sporty all-rounder
The fact that two such talents of the century entered the cycling stage at almost the same time is unusual. Even as youngsters, the two produced some astonishing performances. Evenepoel was actually destined for a professional career in football. As a Belgian junior international, he played for record champions RSC Anderlecht.
But even then, it was clear that the then 16-year-old was a multi-talent. One day after a football match, Evenepoel took part in the 2016 Brussels Half Marathon and finished 13th in an incredible 1:16:15 hours.
However, the boy from Schepdaal soon lost interest in football and climbed onto a racing bike. Just two years later, Evenepoel, whose father Patrick was also a professional cyclist for several years, was already double world junior champion.
Pogacar second youngest winner in Tour de France history
For Pogacar, however, everything has always revolved around cycling. He rode his first race at the age of nine on a racing bike that was far too big for him and left the older age groups in his wake. At the age of 20, he won three Vuelta stages, something no one else had managed at that age. At 21 years and 365 days, he became the second youngest winner in Tour history.
"In my eyes, he's the best rider in the world," Evenepoel said recently about his rival, who, like the Belgian, also has a penchant for the tough one-day races. The fact that both won the tough spring classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège at a young age is certainly no coincidence. The battle for the rainbow jersey is on.
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