Article by David Istrate – published on Sunday, September 28, 2025, 19:38 / Updated Sunday, September 28, 2025 7:40 pm
On Sunday, September 28, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (27 years old) became for the second consecutive world champion on cycling on the road, after an excellent success in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
After, a week ago, he ranked 4th at the counter, Tadej Pogacar approached the race on a single goal: to defend their world title conquered in 2024. The 27-year-old cyclist impressed and did not give any chance to his opponents, being alone at the forefront for 66 kilometers.
Tadej Pogacar dominated the Kigali race, Rwanda: “Let's say it was a successful week”
The Belgian Remco Evenepoel, the champion at Contratimp, went over some technical problems, and climbed the second place, but at no time did he attacked the supremacy of the winning quadruple of the Tour of France.
Pogacar showed its value and became a world champion on the road cycling again, reaching the finish line almost 90 seconds before the second ranked second. Here's how the Top 5 showed:
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Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) – 6:21:20
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Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) – 6:22:48 (+1: 28)
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Ben Healy (Ireland) – 6:23:36 (+2: 16)
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Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark) – 6:24:13 (+2: 53)
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Toms Skujins (Latvia) – 6:28:01 (+6: 41)
Tadej Pogacar (center), world cycling champion, along with Remco Evenepoel (left), silver and Ben Healy (right), bronze/photo medal: Imago Images
Therefore, Pogacar triumphed in a historical edition, being for the first time that the World Cycling Championships were hosted on the African continent. After the completion of the race, the Slovenian revealed that he did not intend to break away from the rest of the platoon, but would have liked to compete with Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso.
“It was the perfect combination. I was something like that – this is a dream, to compete together as far as we can, like a trio, but Juan had an early problem on Mur and del Toro had some stomach problems during the race”, Slovenian revealed, quoted by Cyclingnews.com.
“So I was left alone early and I was solo, fighting alone, but I'm so happy I succeeded. Certainly [n.r. au fost momente de îndoială]. Because the climbs became more difficult in every tour, and on the descents I had to pedal a lot. To the end, the energy resources have been reduced, ”he added.
“It was so hard in the last tours. Obviously, you doubt, but you pull yourself and hope for what is best. One by one, it was an incredible experience. Let's say it was a successful week”, Concluded Pogacar.
In addition to the world title, Tadej Pogacar also conquered, in 2025, the Tour of France, the tour of the United Arab Emirates, Criterium du Dauphine, the Flanders Tour, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Strade Bianche and Lache Wallonne.
