OFFICIAL: Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic team up to defend World Championship title in Rwanda

In 2024 Tadej Pogacar won the men's road race World Championships for the first time in Zurich. The Slovenian national team has been confirmed for the upcoming Worlds in Rwanda and the reigning champion is going to be racing once more, as the man to beat in the hilly course.

The Rwanda World Championships have been swarmed in controversy since the start of the year, with an armed conflict raising safety issues at first - which also affected the Tour du Rwanda - and with many national teams reducing significantly the amount of riders and staff they will be taking to the events. This is because of the high cost of travel to the East African nation, the toughness of the courses which don't allow for many riders to have a shot at top results in the events, the high altitude and the vaccine requirements to make the trip. Hence, we're likely to have the most depleted field in years on several events, but Tadej Pogacar will be present as the headliner in the closing event that's set to take place on the 28th of September.

Pogacar will be racing on the 21st where he has been confirmed to be the only member of the Slovenian team to ride the very difficult 40-kilometer time-trial, where he should be Remco Evenepoel's main and only rival for the gold medal. And a week later the two will be the main favourites for the rainbow jersey that will be worn throughout the upcoming year.

On the 28th Pogacar will be leading the Slovenian national team and will be backed by none other than Primoz Roglic, who in regular conditions is himself also a great contender for the medals. Gal Glivar, Matej Mohoric, Luka Mezgec, Domen Novak, Jaka Primozic and Matic Zumer conclude the nine-man lineup which does not feature Jan Tratnik who was crucial to last year's victory.

Gal Glivar
Matevz Govekar
Luka Mezgec
Matej Mohoric
Domen Novak
Tadej Pogacar
Jaka Primozic
Primoz Roglic
Matic Zumer