The best at what they do. Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, in France this week at the 2025 European Championships in Drôme-Ardèche – which served as a follow-up to the World Championships in Rwanda held at the end of September – reinforced the trends that confirm them as two of the legends of modern cycling.

Evenepoel once again claimed victory by a wide margin in the time trial on 1 October, on a smoother and shorter route (24 km) than the one ten days earlier in Kigali, ahead of Filippo Ganna, the only rival to finish within a minute of him. The Italian, who also took silver twice with the Italian team after falling just seven seconds short of France in the mixed relay, will look to be in the spotlight again at the GranPiemonte next Thursday, the 9th.

With Evenepoel’s renewed favoritism, the demanding 202 km road race in Guilherand-Granges was set for another epic. Only seventeen riders managed to finish a race torn apart by the attacks of Pavel Sivakov and the two ‘sacred monsters’ of the peloton, followed closely by Juan Ayuso (6th), Christian Scaroni (4th), and Paul Seixas – who began writing his legend on Italian roads this April at the Tour of the Alps, dominated the recent Tour de l’Avenir, and could make his definitive breakthrough at Il Lombardia.

The Frenchman earned a well-deserved bronze, with Scaroni yielding on the final climb of the day, behind Evenepoel – powerful enough to drop the chasers 40 km from the finish – and Pogacar, who did his thing again 75 km from the line, arriving solo and cementing, as if there were any doubt, his status as the absolute favorite for the “Race of the Falling Leaves” on 11 October.

And yet, for ‘Pogi’, it didn’t feel like an exhibition. “I found myself in front and tried to keep that one-minute gap, a comfortable advantage. I don’t think it was super dominant. Remco was chasing, and I couldn’t relax until the finish, it was all-out. I’m happy it’s over”. The final effort of the season awaits the riders on the road to Bergamo’s upper town.