Gazzetta reports Pogačar will face off against Evenepoel in the TT championships ahead of road race title defense. Here’s why Pogi could win both.
(Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Updated September 5, 2025 06:01AM
Is Tadej Pogačar poised to go double rainbow later this month at the Rwanda road world championships?
It could be in the cards.
Reports out of Gazzetta dello Sport indicate the four-time Tour de France champion will take on uber-favorite and reigning champion Remco Evenepoel in the Kigali time trial on September 21.
Pogačar will double back to defend his title from Evenepoel and a horde of climbers in the vert-loaded road race one week later.
No normal time trial
Pogačar wants to win it all, and fast. (Photo: LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
The world championship time trial is an audacious addition to Pogačar’s revised post-Tour program.
While the 26-year-old is 6* favorite for the stupid-hard road race, his history in championship TTs is, by Pogačar’s platinum standards, weak.
Sixth in Wollongong in 2022 is Pogačar’s best finish in three attempts at a world championship time trial.
He’s never even backed himself against the clocks at the Olympic Games or Chrono des Nations.
The 2025 time trial championship course is not one for the heavyweights. (Photo: UCI)
Pogačar’s presence at the road worlds time trial is still to be confirmed.
But a very unique course in Kigali must look like a tasty morsel for a modern cannibal who’s already thinking about his legacy.
With nearly 700m of climbing across 40.6km, it’s a parcours that looks like Pogi’s perfect playground. It’s so far from being a specialist’s course that time trial freight-trains like Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert aren’t even showing up.
An uphill cobblestone strip twists the dial even further from the norm.
Pogačar and his time trial revolution
Pogačar distanced everyone except Evenepoel in the stage 5 time trial at the Tour de France. (Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Could Pogačar add a new line to his huge palmarès on September 21?
Well, yes.
The Pogačar who finished 6th in Wollongong is not the same Pogi as the one who will turn 27 on the day of the Kigali test.
Pogačar and UAE Emirates-XRG made it their mission in the past two seasons to iron out any time trial kinks. Being humbled by Jonas Vingegaard at the 2023 Tour de France Alpine TT flicked a switch for the super-ambitious Slovenian.
62 for Pogi, 64 for Remco but a dinner plate for Primož 🍽️
Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič chose differing gear setups for Tour de France Stage 5’s flat, 33km individual time trial, while Edoardo Affini joined Roglič on a 68-tooth chainring.
——#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/U4FPtsrSP3
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) July 9, 2025
Time trialing moved closer to the center of an all-new regimen when Pogačar changed trainer in early 2024.
Pogačar started suffering in the gym to build the core strength and flexibility for peak efficiency in a longer, lower TT position. He switched to his trademark tiny cranks. And unlike earlier in his career, Pogi decided to actually start training on the time trial bike.
He’s not finished lower than 4th in his eight time trials since.
Finishing only 16 seconds behind Evenepoel this summer in the flat Tour de France time trial around Caen was Pogačar’s TT crowning glory. His UAE Emirates-XRG director Andrej Hauptman even hailed the effort “close to perfect.”
Evenepoel is currently riding like a madman at a self-styled Tour of Britain training camp. The Belgian will land into Rwanda primed for his time trial defense.
Pogačar will need to be “close to perfect” to beat him.
Evenepoel will need to be close to perfect to fend him off.