MADRID, 28 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The duel between the Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar will star in the road test of the Cycling World Championship that is being held in Zurich (Switzerland) over 273.9 kilometers with a very tough route of 4,470 meters of accumulated unevenness, which promises a great show to win the rainbow jersey, owned by the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, with several Spanish options to go far.
The current Olympic champion on the road and in the time trial, who revalidated the title of world champion against the clock a week ago, will want to complete a historic poker and round off an unprecedented year, achieving his second title of world champion on the road after his triumph in Wollongong (Australia) two years ago.
In front will be the other great cyclist of the year, the first to achieve the historic Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in this 21st century, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who wants his first world champion title, and add to a record that is already in 85 victories as a professional. In addition, he will be accompanied by a Primoz Roglic who is not ruled out for victory and who could go on his own without acting as a squire for Pogacar.
The list of candidates also includes the current holder of the rainbow jersey, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who has prepared thoroughly for the defense of the title with a physical change to try to endure the tough climbs in which the victory will be decided.
Nor can we rule out the Spanish team, led by Juan Ayuso, Enric Mas, Mikel Landa or Carlos Rodríguez, good climbing cyclists who will try to surprise the group of favorites in which they do not count as main figures. With a route that can adapt very well to their characteristics, they could manage to surprise and succeed Alejandro Valverde as the last Spanish world champion, in Innsbruck (Austria) in 2018.
Other candidates for victory are the Australian Ben O’Connor, recent podium in the Vuelta a España, the Colombians Santiago Buitrago or Daniel Felipe Martínez, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, the Frenchman David Gaudu or the British Simon and Adam Yates.
The route presents many mountainous traps such as Kyburg, only 1.2 kilometers but with a 12% slope or Binz, 4.6 kilometers at 4.5% on average, which will be the preview before traveling the circuit in which the will decide the test, and they will do seven laps, having to ascend this number of times the hard ramps of the Zürichbergstrasse, 1.1 kilometers at 8%, or the Witikon, 2.3 kilometers at 5.7% on average.