Remco Evenepoel singled out Pogacar as the overwhelming favourite for the finale in Zurich, where victory would see the Slovenian join Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche as the only male riders to complete cycling’s Triple Crown.
Pogacar already has the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France to his name this season, leaving the 273.9-kilometre race as the missing piece of a puzzle Evenepoel hopes to disrupt.
“Tadej looks very good. It won’t be self-evident, but I can trust that I can handle him and that I can make it a great race,” Evenepoel told Sporza during a press conference.
“He is the man to beat but that’s why I’m here.”
The road race will begin northwest of Zurich in Winterthur, where a 56-kilometre loop will precede seven laps of a Zurich-based circuit spanning 27 kilometres and containing two climbs.
Both the Zurichbergstrasse and Witikon climbs will combine for over 4,500 vertical metres in total and could shake out the peloton as competing nations make their moves for supremacy.
Evenepoel’s impending attack on Pogacar comes after being named team leader for Belgium in the absence of Wout van Aert.
The 24-year-old won the road race-time trial double at the Paris Olympics and will once again contest the two races at the world championships.
Fatigue could threaten to derail his bid, however, as could the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Julian Alaphilippe (France) – two riders who have worn the coveted rainbow jersey in recent times.
Mads Pedersen (Denmark) is another name worth mentioning, with Marc Hirschi (Switzerland), Michael Woods (Canada) and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) more than capable of producing the required performance.
From an Australian perspective, Michael Matthews could threaten his good friend in Pogacar, having just won the GP de Quebec for the third time in his career.
Jack Haig, Jai Hindley, Ben O’Connor, Nick Schultz, Chris Hamilton, Michael Storer and Jay Vine will also tackle the Swiss roads, where they'll hope Matthews can re-enter the medal conversation just as he did in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022, when he collected one gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.
SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand will provide free coverage of the men's road race from 6:30pm (AEST) on Sunday, September 29.
