Freshly minted world champion Tadej Pogačar added a maiden continental crown to his palmarès with his dominant win at the 2025 UEC Road European Championships on Sunday (5 October).
The win comes a week after the Slovenian road cycling star clinched a second straight world title with a supreme performance in Kigali, Rwanda.
It was vintage Pogačar on Sunday as he set out on his solo ride on the final ascent of the Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps with 75km to go.
Belgium’s two-time Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel initially stuck to Pogačar’s wheel but could not keep up with the flying Slovenian.
Pogačar opened a 30-second gap on the chasing pack spearheaded by Evenepoel, which was narrowed to close to 20 seconds.
The four-time Tour de France champion found his rhythm as he opened a near-unassailable one-minute lead on the chasers.
At the bell for the final lap, Pogačar held a one-minute and two-second lead over Evenepoel with 17km left on the course.
But the Belgian rider could not reel in the flying Slovenian and had to settle for the silver medal as he crossed the line 31 seconds adrift. The 19-year-old Paul Seixas raced home in third place, 3:41 behind Pogačar.