ANALYSIS: Does Mathieu van der Poel have a chance of beating Tadej Pogacar and retaining Rainbow Jersey?

There is no doubt that the 2024 World Championship circuit is very hard and more than likely better suited to Tadej Pogacar than to Mathieu van der Poel. Is it still possible that the 2023 world champion can take the Rainbow Jersey once again though?

In Zürich there will be 3 hard climbs, 2 of them slightly over 1 km (Kyburg with 1.2 at 12% and ramps of 16% and the Zürichbergstrasse of 1.1 at 8% and maximum of 15). The last difficulty, Witikon, is 2.3 km at 5.7% with ramps of 9. Clearly, there is plenty of room for Pogacar to do some damage. He can go solo. But, beware, these are not the kind of climbs that Van der Poel will be unable to adapt to. This is not the Innsbruck Worlds, which was for pure climbers. This world championship is also perfectly suited to strong classics riders on steep climbs and a finer than ever Van der Poel could have his chances.

Evidently, this is harder than the Cipressa or the Poggio. In terms of explosiveness, one of the only ones in the peloton capable of holding off a steady attack from Pogacar is a peak Van der Poel. The other could be Remco Evenepoel who we imagine will try to overtake the Slovenian as he did in Australia when he ended up taking the rainbow jersey.

We'll see, because normally everything will be played in the last lap and Pogi will have 3 chances to go as we have already seen and he will also have Primoz Roglic by his side. Of course, the UAE rider arrives at the Worlds in his third peak of form of the year and VDP in his second: he won at the beginning of the season and then in the Tour he rode more thinking about the World Championship than anything else;

On Sunday, September 29, we will see if the Dutchman can withstand the Slovenian... Brutal what awaits us.