Tadej Pogacar and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot primed for Kigali cycling world title challenges

KIGALI – The epic length and difficulty of the road cycling world championship races in the hills around Kigali this weekend favour Tadej Pogacar for the men and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot in the women’s event.

The pair are the reigning Tour de France champions and should thrive on the 1,500m altitude and the relentless short but steep climbs on the one-day race.

The men’s race on Sept 28 is extremely long at 267.5km and includes 33 climbs, over 15 loops and one longer, even harder loop with an extra cobbled climb.

Pogacar said the humidity and altitude were potentially decisive factors.

“We’re quite high here and you can feel it, not so much walking around, but on the bike. Also, the air quality here in the city is not the best,” he said. “You feel the difference.”

The humiliation of being overtaken on the same roads on the 40.6km time trial by Remco Evenepoel a week ago adds extra motivation for Pogacar, but also begs questions over his form.

“I didn’t catch my rhythm. I didn’t catch my legs,” he said on Sept 25. “I don’t have any issues now this week. I feel ready.”

Evenepoel, who caught the 27-year-old Slovenian after starting 2min 30sec later, won both the time trial and road race Olympic titles in 2024. If he emulates that feat on Sept 28, he would be the first rider to win both world titles the same year.

There is also a cobbled climb on the routes for both the men and women as a nod to the Belgian one-day classics.

Another of the favourites, Britain’s mountain bike Olympic champion Tom Pidcock, said the course suited Pogacar because of its resemblance to the hilly Tour of Flanders which the Slovenian has won twice and Evenepoel has never entered.

“This cobbled climb is like the ‘Vieux Quaremont’, perfect for Tadej,” said Pidcock who came third overall at the Vuelta a Espana earlier in September.

Olympic mountain bike and Tour de France champion Ferrand-Prevot goes into the 164.6km women’s race on Sept 27 in fearsome form.

“I feel very good, unlike the Olympics where I was tired afterwards. Now I’m continuing my momentum,” said the 33-year-old who produced a series of dominant climbs at the Tour.

“I have a lot of experience at altitude. I did a three-week altitude training camp to prepare. The course is up and down all the way. I was expecting it to be more difficult, but it suits me.”

These are the first cycling world championships to be held in Africa, with Kigali providing wide roads with quality surfaces. The champions are awarded a rainbow jersey that they wear for the year, a much coveted prize in what is essentially an amateur race with riders representing their nation rather than a professional team.

Along with Evenepoel in the men’s time trial, Swiss rider Marlen Reusser won the women’s race, while Australia won the mixed team relay on Sept 24.

In other cycling news, partners and equipment providers of Israel-Premier Tech (IPT) targeted by pro-Palestinian protestors at the Vuelta a Espana are pressuring for the cycling team to rebrand.

Various stages of the Vuelta were hit by protests against the private outfit’s participation, with around 100,000 protestors in Madrid engulfing the final day of the race, one of the sport’s three big Tours.

Co-sponsors the Canadian multi-national Premier Tech released a statement calling for change.

“We are sensitive and attentive to the situation on the international scene which has evolved considerably since our arrival on the World Tour in 2017,” Premier Tech said.

“Our expectation is that the team will evolve to a new name excluding the term Israel, and that it will adopt a new identity and a new brand image.”

The company that provides equipment, Factor, said they have also asked for change.

These requests have so far gone unheeded by IPT. AFP