Tadej Pogacar defended his title as the best rider in the world in fine style, going solo with nearly 70km left to race and storming to victory alone on what had been dubbed the hardest World Championships course in history.
The reigning rainbow jersey made his first attack with 104km to go, establishing a two-man breakway with Mexican starlet Isaac del Toro, before dropping him with 67km remaining and holding off an elite chasing group to win by one minute and 29 seconds.
His triumph in Kigali, Rwanda marked the first time in history that a rider has won both the Tour de France and world title twice in successive years, after he claimed the ‘Triple Crown’ of Tour, Giro d’Italia and rainbow jersey last year in an astonishingly dominant season.
Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel took silver after winning the time trial in dominant fashion last Sunday, with Ben Healy capping a superb season by claiming bronze for Ireland’s first world road race medal since Sean Kelly in 1989.
Asked whether he ever doubted he could hold off the chasers, Pogacar said: “For sure, because the climbs were getting harder and harder every lap, and on the downhills you still had to pedal quite a lot, so the energy resources were going towards the end. It was so hard, the final laps. You doubt a bit but you have to push through and hope for the best.
“It was an incredible experience, let’s say it was a successful week!”
The high altitude, heat and humidity in the Rwandan capital, combined with the intensity of the short, sharp climbs and the added jeopardy of cobbles, made this a brutal test.
Only 30 riders out of the original 165 finished the hugely attritional race, which featured just under 5,500m of elevation gain - the first time this century that a World Championships course has included more than 5,000m of climbing - in 267.5km.
But Pogacar rose to the challenge as always. His decisive move came on the only climb of Mont Kigali, with 104km still left to race - similar to his crucial attack on the World Championships circuit last year in Zurich, which came with 100km remaining.
This time Pogacar did not make his usual explosive attack to immediately distance his rivals, but slowly wound up the pace to stretch the peloton out, with only a select group managing to go with him as he powered up the upper slopes still in the saddle.
Triple time trial world champion Evenepoel looked superb last week but was among the first to be distanced here, and there was more casualties as Pogacar finally got out of the saddle on the 17% uppermost slopes of Mont Kigali and left everyone in the dust.
Only Pogacar’s trade teammate - for now - Juan Ayuso was able to cope with the acceleration, as the pair caught lone breakaway survivor Julian Bernard near the top and were the first riders onto the descent.
Spain’s Ayuso briefly distanced the Slovenian on the descent, but the dynamic changed again as young Mexican del Toro - another rider for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG super-squad - bridged across to form a trio.
That was back down to two on the next climb, the Mur de Kigali, as del Toro put in a fierce dig and Ayuso fell off the back on the steep cobbles.
With 67km to go Pogacar finally went solo, accelerating once more to drop del Toro. While the Mexican went backwards a thinned-down chase group eventually formed, with Evenepoel recovering from his earlier struggles and an ill-timed mechanical to chase back onto the peloton, before breaking clear with a few elite companions.
The Belgian was joined by Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley, Matthias Skjelmose and Healy and he was the driving force as the quintet kept the gap to around a minute to the marauding Pogacar.
With 45km remaining the 2022 world champion’s efforts distanced Hindley and Pidcock on another gruelling climb, and it was down to three riders competing for two podium places with three laps remaining.
Despite their best efforts the gap remained over a minute, and Evenepoel - clearly the strongest of the group - decided to make certain a medal with 20km to go, dropping Healy and Skjelmose with ease. Healy in turn left Skjelmose behind in the final few kilometres to come home solo for the final remaining medal.
On last year’s course Pogacar appeared to struggle in the final lap but the chasing group behind him could not get sufficiently organised to claw him back. There was no such drama this year as the Slovenian played his cards perfectly, time-trialling himself to the finish line to leave the chasers with no hope of gold, and grinning ear to ear as he took in his achievement in the final couple of kilometres.
Explaining his long-range attack, Pogacar said: “I think the parcours was designed for this, I was hoping a small group would form like we did with Juan and del Toro. Perfect combo, I was like, this is dreams, no? To ride as far as possible as a trio. But Juan had a problem quite soon on the cobbles and del Toro had some stomach problems I think, so I was left alone quite early and solo like last year, fighting with myself! But I’m so happy I made it.”
Skjelmose was fourth, 2:53 behind Pogacar, with Toms Skujins, Giulio Ciccone, Del Toro and Ayuso finishing in a group together for the minor placings, 6:47 off the winning time.
Portugal’s Afonso Eulalio was ninth, 7:06 behind, with Pidcock the only Briton the reach the finish line. The 26-year-old ultimately crossed the line in 10th place, 9:05 behind Pogacar.
“Most unenjoyable race of the year,” Pidcock said afterwards. “I didn’t feel so good at the start, then I was coming round and into the race, then I completely blew. It was survival until the finish. Absolutely brutal. The legs fell off. I did my best, and that’s it.”
The 2025 edition marked the first time in the World Championships’ 104-year history that Africa played host, with vast crowds amassing at the roadside to celebrate the historic milestone and to cheer on the riders.
British rider Fred Wright, whose job was to keep leaders Pidcock and Oscar Onley safe until after Mont Kigali, told TNT Sports: “The crowds were unbelievable, not many races have been like that, to be honest. It’s been a special exprience this week.”
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