Tadej Pogacar will go after Remco Evenepoel's time-trial world title in Rwanda

Although we are only now entering the second half of the Vuelta a Espana, it is easy to forget that the Rwanda World Championships begin in the space of 18 days and right on its first day cycling fans are set to have a battle between Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar - among others - for the elite men's time-trial rainbow jersey.

Pogacar has had a long season, racing through the spring classics where he added victories in the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège to his palmarès, alongside podiums at Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix; but it was his summer campaign that really took a toll. Pogacar won both Criterium du Dauphiné and Tour de France, beating Jonas Vingegaard directly in both too, but it came at a cost as the World Champion was exhausted by the end of the campaign and let go of his initial goal of racing the Vuelta a España.

Instead, with a fitting course in Rwanda to defend his world champion's jersey, he opted for the safe post-Tour option, resting and beginning a calmer preparation towards the late-September events, having on the way the Canadian classics as racing preparation. The World Championships will take place from the 21st to 28th of September in Kigali, Rwanda, despite the controversies that have emerged this year including the armed conflict in its borders and the requirement for vaccines, as well as the high costs of travel.

It's safe to say that not too many of the world's best will make the trip to the African nation because of the difficulty in the courses, making it much less of an open race when comparing to previous years. The road race is a climber's route, and the time-trial itself features four climbs and an uphill cobbled sector to finish off the 40-kilometer course.

Hence, this may be an unique opportunity for Pogacar to obtain the time-trial World title, despite his immense talent. With Remco Evenepoel being the great dominator of the discipline and also focusing on the Worlds it will be a tough task, but Pogacar should be the second favourite to win the title in Kigali. Thymen Arensman, Magnus Sheffield and former World Champion Tobias Foss are also amongst the known competitors for the race thus far, but not many more are known.