He also became just the third person to win the men’s Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and world title in cycling all in the same year.
With 100km of the 273.9km race in Zurich left, the 26-year-old caught his competitors off guard, leaving the peloton behind Belgian Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel and current world champion Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands.
With 50 kilometers remaining, Pogacar took the lead on his own and held onto it, leaving the rest of the field to contend with the lesser medals. He had quickly closed the distance to a breakaway group.
For today, I really put a lot of burden on myself,” the three-time Tour de France champion remarked. “I was under pressure, both to the team and to myself. This is where we came to win.
Pogacar’s triumph made him the first man to win the ‘Triple Crown’ since Stephen Roche of Ireland in 1987; the first was Belgian legend Eddy Merckx in 1974. The Netherlands’ Annemiek van Vleuten became the lone female recipient of the historic achievement in 2022.
