Tadej Pogacar made yet more cycling history in 2024 as the Slovenian star completed the 'Triple Crown' of victory in the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Championships elite men's road race.
Pogačar did so in his own inimitable style, attacking 100 kilometres from the finish, blasting through a 16-man lead move, then going for it alone with 51 kilometres to go. It was the longest solo break in Worlds history since 1971 and after struggling on the last lap, it finally netted the 26-year-old one of the few major titles yet to elude him.
Silver went to Ben O'Connor (Australia) with a well-timed late ambush move on a select group of chasers, less than a minute behind Pogačar, while defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) was the fastest in a small group sprint for bronze.
Lotte Kopecky may not have been the strongest in a brutally difficult edition of the elite women's/U23 road race, but the 2023 champion nonetheless rode a brilliant race tactically to repeat last year's triumph in Glasgow, this time round in a six-rider sprint ahead of Chloé Dygert (USA) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy).
Dropped under relentless pressure from the Netherlands on the last lap of the rainsoaked, ultra-hilly Zurich circuit, Kopecky rode at her own pace to return to a front group headed by Demi Vollering. Vollering dominated on the climbs but the Dutch star could never quite shake off her strongest rivals. A small group sprint decided the line, and Kopecky used her trademark turn of speed to capture her second elite road race gold in as many years.
In the U23 category, decided in the same race, the Netherlands' Puck Pieterse, 13th across the line, claimed gold. Neve Bradbury (Australia) took silver and Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) the bronze.
Niklas Behrens (Germany) outsprinted Martin Svrček (Slovakia) in the final 150km win the U23 men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships. Alec Segaert (Belgium) took the bronze medal with a solo chase in the final 2km, finishing 28 seconds back. Switzerland's Jan Christen launched a solo attack 51km from the finish, but his effort was shut down inside 10km to go and he settled for fourth.
Lorenzo Finn (Italy) soloed to victory in the men's junior road race, the course soaked with heavy rain. It was Italy's first rainbow jersey of this year's Road World Championships. Sebastian Grindley (Great Britain) secured the silver medal, crossing the line 2:05 after Finn. Senna Remijn (Netherlands) won a three-rider sprint to secure the bronze medal.
Cat Ferguson (GB) added junior road race gold to the time trial title she had already clinched a scant 48 hours earlier, outsprinting Paula Ortiz (Spain) and
Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia) in a three-way battle for the medals.
The rain-soaked, crash-marred course saw a winning break emerge some 20 kilometres from the line. Realising that rivals were closing in behind, Ferguson finally opted to lead from the front, driving home to go one better than her silver medal in the same event last year in Glasgow and simultaneously claim her second 2024 World Championships gold.
A nail-bitingly tight three-way battle in the Road World Championships mixed relay team time trial saw Australia claim the victory by less than a second over Germany, with Italy clinching bronze, just eight seconds further behind.
Rising British star Cat Ferguson claimed a stunning victory in the 18.8-kilometre time trial at Zurich's UCI World Championships, powering along the flat, untechnical course to push Slovakia's Viktoria Chladoňová into second place by a hefty 34 seconds. Set to become a full-time pro with Movistar next season, Ferguson went one better than her silver medal in Glasgow's junior road race with a scorching ride from beginning to end. 14 seconds faster at the turn on the out-and-back course, she more than doubled her advantage on longstanding provisional leader Chladoňová by the finish line. Britain rounded out its domination of the event thanks to Imogen Wolff, just two seconds short of securing silver but claiming bronze nonetheless by 11 seconds over Netherlands' racer Fee Knaven.
Iván Romeo (Spain) was the fastest in the 29.9km individual time trial to win the under-23 title at the World Championships in Zurich. Romeo covered the course in 36:42, beating silver medallist Jakob Soderqvist (Sweden) by 32 seconds and bronze medallist Jan Christen (Switzerland) by 41 seconds. Romeo started slightly slower than his rivals but his performance improved over the mid-route climb and he put forth a powerful final 10km that netted the Spaniard the world title, while his rival faded in the strong headwind on the way to the finish line.
Paul Seixas continued runaway success in the 2024 season with a 14th victory of the year in the junior men's time trial at Zurich. In the flat, untechnical 24-kilometre course, Seixas dug deep in the finale to go from fourth fastest at the second checkpoint to win by six seconds. Silver went to Jasper Schoofs (Belgium), with longstanding provisional TT leader Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium) picking up the bronze.
Day 1: Remco Evenepoel wins elite men's time trial / As it happened
Belgian Remco Evenepoelsuccessfully defended his elite men's individual time trial title on Sunday in Zürich, riding seven seconds faster than Filippo Ganna (Italy). Third place went to Edoardo Affini to give Italy two medals. The Belgian rider completed the Olympics-Worlds double, which had not been accomplished by an elite men's rider before. He overcame a problem with the chain of his bike at the start house and then set the best times at all three checkpoints on the 46.1km route to win for a second time.
Grace Brown (Australia) added the elite women's world time trial title on Sunday to her Olympic Games time trial win earlier this summer. After leading at the first checkpoint by six seconds, Brown fell behind by nine at the second, and then accelerated again on the flat road to the finish to beat Demi Vollering (Netherlands) by 17 seconds in the 29.9km contest. Chloe Dygert (USA), the 2023 champion, secured the bronze medal. In fourth place overall, Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) earned the U23 title.
UCI Road World Championships overview
After a combined 'super' UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in 2023, the UCI Road World Championships goes back to the stand-alone format in 2024. The 97th edition of the event, which was first contested for amateurs in 1921, is taking place in Zurich, Switzerland.
The men's time trial courses start on the historic open race track in Zurich Oerlikon, via Dübendorf and head along Lake Greifensee before heading to join the same route as the events which start in Gossau, which includes the elite women's time trial. From there, the combined course heads across to the picturesque Lake Zurich and follows its shores to the finish at Sechseläutenplatz in Zurich.
The men's elite road race course starts northwest of the city in Winterthur and the women's elite road race to the east in Uster, before taking on a continually undulating route toward a 27km long circuit which includes two key climbing sections, Zürichbergstrasse and Witikon. The men take on the circuit seven times before crossing the line for the final time in Sechseläutenplatz while the women traverse the finishing loop four times.
This year there will not only be the defending champions to watch out for, but also the more recent Olympic victors – although Evenepoel has assured he will be one of the most closely watched men in the peloton after having also won gold at the road race and time trial in Paris. In the women's time trial, Paris 2024 gold medallist Grace Brown (Australia) will be attempting to continue her winning run as she takes on her last Worlds before retirement, while any escape attempt from Olympics road race winner Kristen Faulkner (USA) will not be underestimated.
UCI Road World Championships facts and figures
First edition: Race for amateurs began in 1921
First UCI Road World Champion: Sweden’s Gunnar Sköld
First edition with professionals: In 1927 the first Championships for professional men took place in Nürburgring, Germany
First women's race at event: In 1958 the women's road race was added to the program
First woman to win a rainbow jersey: Luxembourg’s Elsy Jacobs
Most world titles: French rider Jeannie Longo won five rainbow jerseys in the road race and four more in the individual time trial
Youth categories: Dedicated races and medals were introduced in 1975
Most recent event added to schedule: The team time trial mixed relay was put on the schedule in 2019
U23 Women's titles: 2022 was the first year titles were awarded to U23 women in the time trial and road race, with the winner being the first under-23 rider over the line in the elite women's events
U23 Women stand-alone events: The category will have its own races on the schedule from 2025
The best images from a legendary final weekend of racing in Switzerland as Kopecky doubles down while Pogačar writes his name into the record books yet again
