One of the strange quirks of cycling is how rarely the best riders on the planet actually race against each other. Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have only raced against each other five times in the last three seasons: three times at the Tour de France, and once each at Paris-Nice and the Criterium du Dauphine. The design of the cycling calendar allows riders – particularly of their calibre – to pick and choose their moments.
Which is what makes this week’s European Championships, normally something of a footnote in the calendar, such an occasion. It marks the reunion of cycling’s modern ‘Big Three’, in a three-way shootout for a major title, but on very different terrain to their usual battlegrounds. It is a rare race which none of them have ever won, a state of affairs which is unlikely to remain the case for long.
