What do Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi and Bernard Hinault all have in common? Aside from their joint status as cycling greats, they excelled not only in Grand Tours but also in the sport's most prestigious one-day race, at some point becoming World Champions and earning the right to the coveted rainbow jersey.
As the 2010s wore on, Chris Froome and other GC-focused riders began to specialise more in pursuit of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta, making it increasingly unlikely anyone in men's cycling would once again match the exploits of Merckx and co in terms of their versatility.
That was until a certain Tadej Pogačar rose to prominence at the turn of the decade and, after winning his first Tour de France in 2020, went one better a year later to dominate the Tour and claim two Monuments, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia in a single season. It was a feat not seen for 49 years, since Eddy Merckx in 1972, with Coppi being the only other rider to do so in 1949.
Pogačar has continued to emulate the greats in his illustrious but still recently started career, often making history whenever he's clipped into the pedals, the most recent feat being the first completion of a Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
With four Grand Tours and six Monuments already on his palmarès, his place among the all-time greats is well-established, even at just 26. One race victory does elude him, though, and keeps him separated for now from those mentioned above - the elite World Championships road race. However, with the Zürich Worlds just around the corner, Pogačar's best opportunity yet to set the record straight is quickly approaching.
"The chance is there... It's always been there. Last year I was third place on a parcours that didn't suit me the most and this year is a much better parcours in Zürich so the chances are bigger," said Pogačar after storming solo to victory in the GP Montréal last Sunday.
"In elite World Championships, this is the best that suits me so far, that’s why I am more excited than ever before. But World Championships are World Championships and if everything doesn't go to perfection, it's hard to win."
Pogačar will make up part of a star-studded Slovenian team alongside Primož Roglič and five other top riders that will take on the 273.9km course in and around Zürich with nearly 4500m of elevation gain - a true climbers' challenge. But he will no doubt be the leader, competing with the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and a whole host of the sport's best for glory.
"With Tadej [Pogačar] in Zürich, we are going there with one clear objective. I will do my best to do my part. I think Tadej deserves this," said compatriot Matej Mohorič to Cyclingnews before racing him in Québec.
"I think there might be a point in the future when he can do the same for another rider from the national team, so I think it's important that we stick together and try to win the World Championships, which has never happened before for Slovenia."
Slovenia's previous best finish in the Worlds road race is third in the elite men's event, thanks to Pogačar in Glasgow last year and Andrej Hauptman in 2001, a DS at Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates. Pogačar is looking to write more history over the key Zürichbergstrasse and Witikon climbs that punctuate the largely urban Swiss course.
'Everybody knows he's the best rider in the world'
His presence also makes it simple for his teammates, knowing that they are required just to wind things up for him to launch his inevitable leg-breaking attack, even if the mission is far easier said than done. However, this also means that when the road race rolls around on September 29, everyone knows Pogačar will go on the rampage: it's just a matter of when and whether you can get ahead of him before he does.
"The team is always different when Tadej is there, you feel it, not only in the riders but also the staff. Everybody knows Tadej is the best rider in the world, and when he's there at the race, you feel that everybody goes 120% instead of 100%," said UAE teammate and soon-to-be Belgian rival Tim Wellens to Cyclingnews before the Canadian races.
"For me, it's super nice but also for all of his teammates because when Tadej is there, everything is clear. It's not that other races are not clear, but you might have two or three leaders and then you see what happens."
"But when Tadej is there, everybody knows he's the leader. Everybody knows what their job is. It's also nice that most of the time Tadej finishes it off."
Mohorič and Wellens had contrasting roles in Pogačar's last race before Worlds in Montréal. The former was part of those who tried to get away solo before Pogačar's inevitable winning attack on the penultimate lap. The latter was part of a UAE train that brutally ramped up the pace before the brutal burst of strength that saw Pogačar ride 23km alone en route to victory.
The Belgian may be set to swap his service out for Evenepoel's ambitions come the road race but what they share is a common opinion of Pogačar's nature, as an extrovert, a joker and someone who doesn't take himself or cycling too seriously, despite being the best male rider since the great Merckx.
"We train together a lot in Monaco. So I would say we are good friends. He's super extroverted, so he is actually the way he shows up on social media," said Mohorič, who is set to be part of the Slovenian team in Zürich.
"He's super open, easygoing, almost too relaxed at times. He just lives his best life. He enjoys every moment."
"He's exactly like you think he is like. He doesn't take cycling, like, 200% seriously, and he really enjoys doing it." agreed Wellens. "I mean, he's not afraid to only stop for a coffee to eat chocolate cake or things like that."
A sense of inevitability
However, he's most certainly been taking these World Championships seriously - having made it one of his key goals of the 2024 season. If Pogačar can manage the win it will confirm him as only the third-ever 'Triple Crown' winner behind Merckx and Stephen Roche, while there will be an equally as ambitious set of riders ready to deny him in Switzerland.
"Remco [Evenepoel] for sure, Van der Poel can do it also. It would’ve been the perfect parcours for Wout van Aert. France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain can do really big things. We need to be careful," said Pogačar.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of nations that are coming strong but I think I just need to do my own race and be good on the day. It’s gonna be a lot depending on my team and the other teams, how they will race because it should be really open in Zuirch, There can be really long-range attacks or just pure power moves on the shorter climbs but there are a lot of riders that are suited to this parcours."
The last few Worlds courses have mainly been more adapted to the punchy, Classics-style stars. That didn't stop Pogačar from chancing his hand most memorably in the 2020 Imola race and the brutal Glasgow city circuit battle, ultimately losing out to Julian Alaphilippe and Van der Poel in courses more tailor-made to their abilities.
With Zürich being followed by Kigali in 2025, Montréal in 2026 and then Haute-Savoie as the next 'Super Worlds', Pogačar should have four chances at claiming the rainbow bands, making it almost seem inevitable that he will become World Champion.
“The goal is in Zürich, the wish is there, the dream too, but now for a few years, it’s going to be a really tough parcours, maybe even better than this one," Pogačar said. "But let’s all focus on Zürich for now and if it doesn’t happen, there are still some chances. The sooner you do it, though, the better it is."
There are, of course, all-time cycling greats who have gone a whole career without becoming road race World Champions, notably Miguel Indurain, Jacques Anquetil and one of the finest one-day racers that ever lived, Sean Kelly. However, given both his talents on the bike and his ability to live up to whatever history-making task he's required to complete, that doesn't look to be the future that awaits Tadej Pogačar.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 UCI Road World Championships - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from the junior, under-23, and elite time trials and road races as it happens and more. Find out more.
