Remco Evenepoel<\/a> opened the race early, first with 109km to go, and then again at 92km to go. They went on the attack, paced hard, threw riders in the breakaway, and isolated Poga\u010dar with a long way to go.<\/p>\nBut in the end, the race still came down to a 1v1 between Poga\u010dar and Evenepoel, and it was the world champion who came out on top. Evenpoel tried to chase, but even with the help of a few others, the Belgian couldn\u2019t close the gap.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar has dominated so many races this season, as he has in years past. But this time, it feels different.<\/p>\n
His attack is inevitable, but no one can do anything about it. The strongest teams in the world can put their entire squad into rotation, but they still cannot bring back Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019ve arrived at the million-dollar question: How does Poga\u010dar do it? How can he win solo by attacking 60-100 kilometers from the finish? And when everyone knows it\u2019s coming, why can\u2019t they do anything to stop it?<\/p>\n
First, let\u2019s take a detailed look at the European championships, and then we\u2019ll attempt to answer those key questions.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar\u2019s unstoppable solo at the Euro championships
\n![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239353704-720x480.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar rode everyone off his wheel \u2014 again. (Photo: Billy Ceusters\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The 202km Euros road race was a perfect route for Poga\u010dar. It included 3400 meters of climbing across 13 categorized ascents. The long climbs came in the first half of the profile while the second half included multiple repetitions of the short and steep Val D\u2019Enfer (1.6km at 9.7%).<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar had multiple attacking options: go on the long climb of Saint Romain de Lerps (7km at 7.2%), or wait for the steep reps of the Val D\u2019Enfer. But in the end, he wasn\u2019t the first contender to make a move.<\/p>\n
Belgium attacked with 109km to go, dropping Jonas Vingegaard and a host of other riders from the main group. Poga\u010dar wasn\u2019t bothered, but his Slovenian teammates were, many of them dropping for good at this point in the race.<\/p>\n
The next major attack came on the Val d\u2019Enfer with 92km to go. They hadn\u2019t even reached the shorter circuits yet, but that didn\u2019t stop Jan Christen, Pavel Sivakov, and Evenepoel from making a major move. This was an all-out effort for nearly every rider in the race, as we can see from Sivakov\u2019s Strava file. The Frenchman rode on the wheels of Poga\u010dar and Evenepoel for most of the climb, even as the group split completely behind.<\/p>\n
This effort on its own is ridiculously hard. Most WorldTour pros couldn\u2019t match this power in a fresh effort, let alone in the middle of a 202km race.<\/p>\n
![\"Sivakov\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sivakov-Val-DEnfer-with-92km-to-go-720x667.png\")
<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar and Evenepoel \u2013 Val D\u2019Enfer with 92km to go<\/p>\n
Time: 2:48
\nEstimated Power: ~9w\/kg
\nVAM: 2,525 Vm\/h
\nSivakov: 629w (8.9w\/kg) for 2:50 at 2,513 Vm\/h<\/p>\n
2,500 Vm\/h is so incredibly fast that it\u2019s hard to put it into words. Most amateurs could maintain that climbing speed by sprinting up a 30-second hill. To hold it for three minutes and then continue racing 92km is out of this world. And that\u2019s exactly what these riders did.<\/p>\n
After catching the early breakaway, Belgium led into the final climb of the Saint Romain de Lerps with 77km to go. Poga\u010dar attacked 1km later, immediately dropping everyone but Evenepoel. The Belgian held on for a few minutes before exploding on the uphill slopes and fading back to the chase group. With 73km to go, Poga\u010dar was solo and never to be caught. That was it.<\/p>\n
When looking at Sivakov\u2019s file, we can see that the first part of the Saint Romain de Lerps was paced at ~7w\/kg. Then, Poga\u010dar attacked, with only Evenepoel able to follow. Sivakov was not only dropped, he also imploded on the climb, fading to under 5.8w\/kg for the final few minutes of the effort. A rider at this level had an FTP higher than 6w\/kg \u2013 and Sivakov was barely able to hold upper Zone 4 power.<\/p>\n
![\"Sivakov](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sivakov-Saint-R-720x667.png\")
<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar \u2013 Saint Romain de Lerps with 77km to go<\/p>\n
Time: 16:18
\nEstimated Power: ~7.2w\/kg
\nVAM: 1,838 Vm\/h
\nSivakov: 431w (6.1w\/kg) for 17:59 at 1,666 Vm\/h<\/p>\n
The chase group was Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Christian Scaroni, and Juan Ayuso. Evenepoel did the lion\u2019s share of the work, while the others tried to contribute. But the Belgian was clearly the strongest, and he eventually made his way into second place behind Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
In the end, the time gaps were absolutely massive. The double World Champion relaxed enough that Evenepoel finished within a minute, but Seixas took third at 3:41 down on Poga\u010dar. 10th place was nearly seven minutes behind Poga\u010dar, and there were only 17 finishers. Poga\u010dar had not only destroyed the field, he had forced them into agony.<\/p>\n
It seems like Poga\u010dar has cracked the code and that no one can stop him.<\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t anyone stop Poga\u010dar\u2019s solo attacks?
\n![\"Evenepoel\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239360943-720x480.jpg\")
Evenepoel put up a brave fight but couldn\u2019t close the gap. (Photo: Bernard Papon \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
There is good news for everyone in the pro peloton not named Tadej Poga\u010dar: you can still beat him. It is possible. It happened at this year\u2019s Amstel Gold Race, and it can happen again.<\/p>\n
But here is the reason that Poga\u010dar\u2019s attacks work so well: he attacks so hard that everyone goes into the red trying to follow. And they don\u2019t just go into the red, they go so far over their limit that they can never recover. Poga\u010dar\u2019s attacks are so ridiculously fast that anyone within 10 seconds of him is guaranteed to blow up. Just look at Juan Ayuso and Isaac Del Toro at the world championships in Rwanda. Or Vingegaard at the Tour de France. Or Evenepoel in this very race.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar\u2019s attacks work so well because everyone chasing him is absolutely exhausted, and no one wants to commit. We could see this scenario play out at Tre Valli Varesine where Poga\u010dar, again, won solo. The chase group was strong, but only a few riders were somewhat committed to the chase. As soon as that happens, the race is over.<\/p>\n
At the world championships, how many kilometers did it take for Italy and France to organize their chase? Too long. By the time they finally got going, Poga\u010dar\u2019s gap was unbridgeable, and the riders behind were too tired.<\/p>\n
The only race this year where Poga\u010dar\u2019s solo attack didn\u2019t work was the Amstel Gold Race. Of course, he didn\u2019t win Milano-Sanremo or Paris-Roubaix, but he was never solo in those races. So let\u2019s zoom in on this unique effort.<\/p>\n
The Amstel Gold Race is made for Poga\u010dar. It is very long, very hard, and extremely difficult to win. On a parcours this difficult, it is typically the strongest rider that comes out on top. So when Poga\u010dar went solo in this year\u2019s edition, we all thought that the race was over. But some interesting things were happening behind.<\/p>\n
Mattias Skjelmose had broken away from the chase group, and then Evenpoel came across with 25km to go. Neither rider was willing to settle for a podium, so they pulled with everything that they had. They did not skip turns or feign fatigue.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar had a 30-second lead, like he has in so many races this year. It is not a bridgeable gap, one that can be closed with a single explosive effort. Instead, it\u2019s a gap that requires patience and persistence to close. Evenepoel and Skjelmose worked together for 17km before they finally caught Poga\u010dar \u2013 that\u2019s the kind of commitment it takes to close just a half-minute\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n
After five hours and 50 minutes of racing, Poga\u010dar was defeated, beaten by Skjelmose in the sprint. And that is how you beat Tadej Poga\u010dar. Let\u2019s break it down a bit further. If you are trying to beat Poga\u010dar, this is what you need to know.<\/p>\n
He is going to eat your right hooks and counter you with a devastating uppercut. The \u201cfatigue\u201d that you are trying to put into his legs\u2026that doesn\u2019t work. His FTP is nearly 7w\/kg. That means all of his zones (i.e. Zone 2 endurance, Zone 3 tempo, Zone 4 threshold, etc.) are 50-100w higher than yours. If you are riding in Zone 4 on a climb, he is riding in Zone 3. Everything that you do, he can do better \u2013 he is nose breathing as you start to gasp for air.<\/p>\n
You know that his attack is coming. It\u2019s inevitable, so you need to be prepared for it. Don\u2019t try to follow like Evenepoel in Euros or Del Toro in worlds \u2013 just look at how that turned out for them. Even if you can follow for a bit, you will soon implode. Don\u2019t make that mistake. Instead, control your effort and go as fast as you can behind Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
Ideally, you get into a group of like-minded riders. Think Healy and Skjelmose at the world championships. Now you have a group of strong riders only 30 seconds behind Poga\u010dar, all willing to work together to close the gap. When you close the gap, Poga\u010dar will finally be tired (even more tired than you) because he has been riding solo, whereas you have been in a group. That\u2019s when you finally have a chance to beat him.<\/p>\n
He needs to be more fatigued than you are.<\/p>\n
With that, you have a chance.<\/p>\n
At the European championships, Evenepoel, Ayuso, Seixas, and Scaroni were too tired by the time they organized their chase. You could tell by their body language and unwillingness to work. The drooped heads, flailing elbows, and negative posture. They were all defeated, despite there being more than 70km to go.<\/p>\n
Contrast that with Healy at the world championships. He looked like a man on a mission, a rider in control of his effort. Willing to ride as hard as he could for the best possible result. Del Toro went too hard too early, and he certainly paid the price. We\u2019ve seen it over and over again, and history could repeat itself at Il Lombardia. We\u2019ll see if a small group of riders can organize a chase because it is only a matter of time before Poga\u010dar goes solo.<\/p>\n
Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the European championships it’s plainly clear: Tadej Poga\u010dar is in a league of his own and no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,45284,101,77147,72948,45287,45288,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-187341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-parent_category-road","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tag-power-analysis","12":"tag-tag-remco-evenepoel","13":"tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","14":"tag-type-article","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Poga\u010dar\"](\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239362928.jpg\")
<\/p>\n