On Thursday evening, the Road World Championships press pack decamped 30km south of Zürich to the town of Cham on the northern shore of Lake Zug. In generations past, this was the kind of pilgrimage reserved for audiences with the traditional powers like Italy and Belgium, but the landscape of cycling has shifted in the 2020s.
These days, the epicentre is in Slovenia. Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič have made sure of that. Between them, they have swept this season’s Grand Tours, and on Sunday, all eyes are on Pogačar as he looks to emulate Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche by completing the Triple Crown of Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Worlds.
