Tadej Pogacar is perhaps the man to beat today at the World Championships. Over the past days we have seen just how hard the circuit is and how a rider like the Giro-Tour winner can make the difference. He leads Slovenia, who he argues is close to achieving a rainbow jersey.

“We have to deliver as quickly as possible. I have explored everything on the course. I am glad I did that earlier, so that I could prepare calmly for today. It will be a tough race,” he says on the same circuit that crowned Niklas Behrens and Lotte Kopecky this Friday and Saturday, not riders who are considered climbers. But Pogacar the explosivity and experience in the long one-day races, enough to be able to snatch one of the few titles he doesn’t yet have at the top of the sport.

He will have the climbs to be able to attack: “As we saw in the U23, where Jan Christen attacked, you can make the difference there. If you have the punch, you can get away there. If you don’t have that on that steep part, you have many other places. It’s a lot of up and down and the course is very diverse. So there are plenty of possibilities. The most logical place is the steep climbs after the finish.”

He teams up with Primoz Roglic to make a deadly duo that will have the highest chances of taking the win this afternoon in Zurich, and it is something the nation is quite eager for. “Slovenia is still missing the rainbow jersey. We’re starting to get closer. Last year I was already third. We have an energy within the team that is building towards this World Championships. The pressure is there to deliver as quickly as possible. If it doesn’t work out this year, then it will next year.”