Can anyone beat Pogačar in the Rwanda Worlds road race?
The Slovenian will secure the second-straight title, but will he win?
More on Sunday’s race preview ahead.
Kristof Ramon
The first-ever Road World Championships on the African continent will take place, but not before Sunday’s elite men’s road race. As tradition dictates, the world’s best pro road racers from around the globe will converge in Kigali, Rwanda, to race on the toughest course since the 1950s. This event marks the end of the championships, but the race will still be a must-see.
To get you up to speed, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about the race. Here’s a breakdown of the course, riders, and storylines:
Can anyone stop Tadej Pogačar from winning a second-straight rainbow jersey?
Abby Mickey has you covered for the women’s road race preview.
The favorites:
- Tadej Pogačar (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
- Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
- Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy (⭐⭐⭐)
- Egan Bernal, Jay Vine, Mattias Skjelmose, Oscar Onley, Thymen Arensmen, Juan Ayuso, Richard Carapaz (⭐⭐)
- Quinn Simmons, Julian Alaphilippe, Valentin Paret-Peintre (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
The weather looks promising: forecast predicts 27°C, with little chance of rain or thunderstorms. Wind is unlikely to affect the race.
How to watch: Live coverage starts at 12:30am PDT from the USA and Canada (FloBikes), and from 2pm BST in the UK (BBC iPlayer and BBC Two). Coverage also includes Australia (Stan Sport) and Europe (Eurosport/Discovery+).
Note: UCI will provide live coverage via its YouTube channel, but geoblock will apply in markets with broadcast deals in place.
And finally, a heads-up: the race starts at 9:45 AM local time and ends around 4:45 PM. It’s ideal for those in Central Africa Time and Central European Summer Time.
The course is incredibly challenging. If you're interested in a quick summary, here it is: covering 267.5 km on roads in and around Kigali, the riders will climb 5,475 meters vertically. This is more than the 2018 Worlds in Innsbruck (5,000m) or the 1995 Duitama (5,300m) or the 1981 Prague (5,200m). Based on our research, you’ll have to go back as far as Sallanches, France, for a harder course than this year’s edition.
In fact, based on our research, you have to go back as far as 1980, to Sallanches, France, for a hillier course than this year’s edition. Bernard Hinault won that day on a course that included roughly 6,000m of climbing. It took him over 7.5 hours to finish, and only 15 out of 110 starters finished.
Sunday’s race likely won’t be as brutal as that, but it will be extremely hard on a course that is practically up and down all day long.
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