Which is what makes this week\u2019s European Championships, normally something of a footnote in the calendar, such an occasion. It marks the reunion of cycling\u2019s modern \u2018Big Three\u2019, in a three-way shootout for a major title, but on very different terrain to their usual battlegrounds. It is a rare race which none of them have ever won, a state of affairs which is unlikely to remain the case for long. <\/p>\n
The combatants: Pogacar, the man with a serious claim to the status of greatest of all time, fresh off a defence of his world title<\/a> in Rwanda last week. Remco Evenepoel<\/a>, possibly the single best time-triallist<\/a> the world has ever seen, and the first to hold the world, Olympic, European, and national titles against the clock at the same time. And Vingegaard, a few weeks on from a dominant win<\/a> at the Vuelta a Espana<\/a>, but an unknown quantity in France. <\/p>\n Evenepoel and Pogacar are frequent adversaries in the sport\u2019s biggest one-day races, but the last time Vingegaard completed one was almost exactly three years ago: Il Lombardia in 2022. It is not just regular one-day racing he avoids, it\u2019s any major championships. Vingegaard has never appeared in Danish colours at elite level, last racing the under-23 World Championship seven years ago. <\/p>\n But he\u2019s picked as good a place as any to end that streak: the sole one-day race win of his career came in the same region as this week\u2019s road race, the Drome Classic, and he will arrive in France fresh compared to those coming from the high altitude and gruelling hills of Rwanda.<\/p>\n Denmark has one of the strongest teams, with all three of Vingegaard, Mads Pedersen and Matthias Skjelmose possible winners. The team has the opportunity to take the fight to Pogacar, attacking in turn to wear down his defences \u2013 a tactic which has previously delivered Vingegaard\u2019s Visma-Lease a Bike squad to Tour de France glory.<\/p>\n Vingegaard\u2019s stage-racing tactics are generally conservative. He doesn\u2019t generally, Pogacar-style, take off with 100km to go.<\/a> How he translates that style into 200km of flat-out racing \u2013 and how his presence will affect the dynamic of the race \u2013 will be a fascinating subplot to this clash between titans. <\/p>\n His participation also offers an insight into a possible future. Now with three grand tours under his belt, his place in history is secure. But seemingly no closer to beating Pogacar over three weeks when both are on top form, will Vingegaard diversify his ambitions<\/a> in the hope of more wins, or double down on his Tour fixation? <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n This week marks a rare meeting of the three titans outside their usual battleground, the Tour de France (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The motivations of his two rivals are simple: both out for revenge, in different ways. <\/p>\n Two weeks ago Kigali provided the backdrop to possibly Pogacar\u2019s most humiliating defeat since the infamous time he was dropped by Vingegaard on the Col de la Loze in the 2023 Tour, leading to the now-immortalised quote, \u201cI\u2019m gone, I\u2019m dead.\u201d <\/p>\n There were no team radios to capture any such distress in the Worlds time trial, but no doubt had he had one, the sight of Evenepoel catching him \u2013 having started two and a half minutes behind \u2013 and motoring away to gold would have been met with something unbroadcastable. <\/p>\n Pogacar was gracious in defeat \u2013 although amusingly he was at pains to note how much time his Belgian rival spent on the discipline compared to him \u2013 and as so often, action spoke louder than words. He won the road race<\/a> in his usual commanding style, dropping Evenepoel with 104km to go.<\/p>\n The Slovenian opted against a rematch against the clock in Drome-Ardeche, but Evenepoel was similarly dominant. His frustration and misery at defeat on the road in Kigali will undoubtedly be fuel for a rider who seems to find another gear when things aren\u2019t going his way. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Pogacar will be targeting the World-European double on Sunday (AP)<\/p>\n Two catastrophic bike changes led to him standing at the roadside, venting his anger by kicking a water bottle, and no Remco race is complete without a fair bit of shouting and gesticulating at the team car or a race moto. If he can channel that residual rage into pedal-revs on Sunday, even Pogacar may have something to worry about. <\/p>\n It would be disrespectful to the other 98 riders on the startlist to suggest that the battle for the European crown is already down to just three men. But it would also be inadvisable to stake all your savings on a lesser-known contender. <\/p>\n Pedersen and Skjelmose should be lively on the punchy course, which is not so ludicrously difficult as to put everyone but Pogacar into a state of existential despair (by contrast, Tom Pidcock<\/a> called the Worlds course the \u201cmost unenjoyable race of the year\u201d). Spain has Juan Ayuso; France, Romain Gregoire and Paul Seixas. Portugal\u2019s Joao Almeida skipped Wednesday\u2019s time trial with illness and seems emotionally exhausted following his second-place Vuelta finish, but can\u2019t be ruled out either. <\/p>\n When it comes to the women\u2019s race, however, it is anyone\u2019s game. Regular racing has its super-teams, its alliances, its well-drilled leaders and domestiques. But on the rare occasions where riders race in national colours, all bets are off. <\/p>\n The Dutch, French and Italian teams were undoubtedly the strongest in Kigali; not one of their riders finished on the podium, the major squads having paralysed each other through indecision and sheer tactical blundering. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Remco Evenepoel is the best time-triallist of his generation and possibly of all time, but played second fiddle to Pogacar on the road in Kigali (AP)<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI258876020.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pogacar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI268081093.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Remco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI267120603.jpeg\")
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