There will be 200 riders on the start line in Winterthur on Sunday morning, but the build-up to the elite men's road race at these Road World Championships has coalesced around two names. Even in a field of this depth, it will be classed as something of a surprise if neither Remco Evenepoel nor Tadej Pogačar claims the rainbow jersey on Zurich's Sechseläutenplatz on Sunday afternoon.
Evenepoel already has some rainbow bands to show for his Swiss sojourn, having collected a second consecutive time trial title last weekend. Pogačar only arrived in Switzerland in midweek, and on Thursday evening he matter-of-factly noted that the road race would be "a different game" to the time trial claimed by Evenepoel.
The comment, inevitably, was relayed to Evenepoel when he met the press on Friday morning, with a sizeable contingent squeezing into a small conference room in Wetzikon for an audience with the Belgian team. Rather than see it as a provocation, Evenepoel chose to interpret Pogačar's remark as a simple statement of fact.
"It's a different bike, so a different race and also more riders, you're not on your own… It's exactly a different game," Evenepoel smiled. "We all know what a bike race is, so it's nothing new."
Even so, the Worlds is a bike race like no other, an event that always throws up something new or unseen. Pogačar's record in his national team colours is underwhelming compared to his dominance elsewhere, with 'only' – it's all relative – bronze medals from the Tokyo Olympics and last year's Glasgow Worlds to show for his efforts thus far.
Evenepoel, by contrast, has repeatedly shone in the evocative light blue jersey of the Belgian squad, most notably when he soloed to the title in Wollongong two years ago and, of course, when he collected two gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games this past summer.
On each occasion, Evenepoel had Wout van Aert for company in the Belgian squad, with his rapier speed serving as the perfect foil to the younger man's blunt force. Van Aert's absence through injury here simplifies Belgium's leadership hierarchy, but the task of winning this race is surely more complicated.
"Of course, it's always better to have Wout here, as he proved in the Olympics," said Tiesj Benoot, one of Belgium's road captains on Sunday. "In a course like this never know what can happen, but for a guy like Remco it's always good to have a fast guy behind."
Pogačar, of course, is blessed with greater finishing speed than Evenepoel, who acknowledged that he would be hard-pressed to outmatch the Slovenian if they were to make it to the finish together.
"If there's no other option, I will have no choice but to sprint with him, but Tadej is a very quick rider," he said. "In a 280km race, the sprint might be a bit different, and if that's the situation, I have to accept it."
Although, as the Tour de France showed, Pogačar remains a level above Evenepoel over three weeks, the Belgian's one-day record is an imposing one. A sizeable part of the intrigue of this Worlds stems from how Evenepoel and Pogačar have split the last four editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège between them without ever facing off directly in the finale.
"It's not up to me to agree with that," Evenepoel said when asked if he went along with the view that he and Pogačar were the favourites, though he did acknowledge the burden of policing the race would likely fall on their respective teams.
"If I have to believe the newspapers and everything, there are two big favourites, so I think those two teams have to try to take control of the race, but it depends on how it develops on the local lap. It's always a special race, so we have to be open for multiple race situations."
'I'm here with Team Belgium, not Team Holland'
Evenepoel and his teammates were set to perform a reconnaissance of the 27km finishing circuit on Friday morning ahead of the under-23 men's road race at the Road World Championships. However, the time trial world champion was already confident the terrain was better suited to his talents than last year's circuit in Glasgow.
It remains to be seen if the 4,400m of total climbing will put a title defence beyond the reach of Evenepoel's occasional training partner Mathieu van der Poel, though the Dutchman's form looked to be improving rapidly at the Tour of Luxembourg last week.
"He was not really good in the last training I did with him three weeks ago, but I think he improved in Luxembourg and he's also a guy who knows how to get into peak shape in the right moment," Evenepoel said.
"I think he'll be ready, but it's also clear he's heavier than me and Tadej, so he has to take that weight up in every lap and that might cost him."
Evenepoel dismissed the idea that he and Van der Poel might become allies of circumstance against Pogačar and a Slovenian squad that includes Primoz Roglič.
"No, it's pretty straightforward: I'm here with Team Belgium, not Team Holland," Evenepoel said. "We have to race in the way that's best for me, not for Tadej, Hirschi or anybody else. I think it's pretty clear we're not making any deals with other teams."
On that note, Evenepoel also clarified that he would not leave Soudal-QuickStep for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, despite reports in late summer linking him with a move. "I'll stay where I am, that's pretty clear," he said. "No transfers."
Even so, Evenepoel has eyes on wearing a different jersey next season. "I think I'm still owed three months in the rainbow jersey because the Worlds were early last year," he joked.
While Pogačar seeks to complete cycling's Triple Crown, Evenepoel is close to his own remarkable sweep of Olympic and Worlds medals. He pleaded the fifth when asked if he had already planned a victory celebration with his friend Van der Poel.
"Maybe," he grinned. "But I don't want to wake up the beast in Tadej as well. Although I think that beast is already awake…"
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.
