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The 21 best men’s one-day races of the 2020s so far

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The 21 best men’s one-day races of the 2020s so far

The stakes are high in a one-day race. Tactics, fuelling and luck all play into the outcome of a Classic in professional cycling, and even then sometimes you just might not be on a good day. These types of races often throw up the most exhilarating days of racing on the calendar, including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and the World Championships.

Now that we’ve reached the halfway mark in the 2020s, we’ve seen a power shift at the top of the one-day field. The cyclocross titans of Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have characterised many of the Monuments in the 2020s so far. We’ve also seen the return of GC stars in Classics racing courtesy of Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič.

Last week, we tackled the Grand Tours. This week, we’re diving into the Classics. For this, one-day races spanning Monuments, semi-Classics, national, continental and World Championships will be factored in, as will the Olympic Games. 21 races will make the cut based on the wholly subjective metrics of watchability, significance and excitement.

21. Milan-San Remo 2024

Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty

With his best legs to date, Tadej Pogačar was the marked man on the final ascent of the Poggio in 2024. He tried going for a long-range attack before in this race, but experience dictated that he’d wait until the very last to make his move. Towards the top of the climb, he finally threw down the gauntlet and the race was forced to shift up a gear in pursuit. Mathieu van der Poel played the selfless teammate and reeled in the Slovenian. Was this the pull that decided the race? Most probably, yes.

On the final run into San Remo, some outsiders gave it a go. For a brief moment, it looked as though Matteo Sobrero had snuck past Alpecin-Deceuninck, but it all came down to one final dash to the line. The Sprinter’s Classic had finally returned to its billing. Michael Matthews and Pogačar came close, but it was always going to be Jasper Philipsen who’d win a group sprint to win the 2024 Classicissima.

The best sprinter in the world now a Monument man.

20. UEC European Road Championships 2023 Men’s Elite Road Race

The European Championships are often overlooked. Sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly. In 2023, the race was far from a snoozefest.

The Dutch route, surprisingly to some, featured a pretty nasty ramp. On the penultimate time around, Christophe Laporte went off the front in a move that should have been brought back with more urgency. The peloton did manage to come together and kicked off a relentless chaingang to bring back that year’s Gent Wevelgem winner.

On the final kicker up the Col du Vam – an artificial climb built on an old landfill site – Laporte’s lead was far from comfortable. Behind, Arnaud De Lie arranged a red carpet leadout for his teammate Van Aert with sprinter Olav Kooij in close company. However, the steep finale was deceiving for these efforts. When Van Aert launched, it seemed as though he could make the connection up to his trade teammate Laporte. In the end, they just missed out on catching the Frenchman and he took home a deserved victory.

A finale that had us all on the edge of our seats and a deserving winner.

19. UCI World Road Championships 2024 Men’s Elite Road Race

Xavier Pereyron

The most recent inclusion in this ranking (sorry Italian Classics), the 2024 World Championships caught many off-guard, even though the winner was predictable from the start.

With a flyer at just over 100km to go, Pogačar burst off the front of the peloton in pursuit of a first rainbow jersey and the hallowed Triple Crown. Given the distance, we were all wondering whether he’d gone too early.

Unlike some of Pogačar’s more slumbersome victories this year, this was tight all the way to the line. On the final lap, it almost looked as though he misjudged this self-proclaimed ‘stupid move’. The gap came back to around 20 seconds while the chase looked on with grand ambitions.

However, the eventual breakdown of the pursuers would yield another handful of seconds in Pogačar’s direction. No attack would stick in the second group and Pogačar found a second – or maybe third or fourth – wind to take the gold medal and a career first rainbow jersey. Behind, the popular Ben O’Connor would come home in second with reigning champion Van der Poel in third.

Triple Crown secured, this might be one of the more historically significant races on this list.

18. Gent Wevelgem 2022

Biniam Girmay Gent-Wevelgem 2022
Flanders Classics

2022 Gent Wevelgem was supposed to be a walkover for Jumbo-Visma. Expectedly, the bumblebees pulled off their 2022 party trick and attempted a brute force team attack in the final 30km. After what happened at E3 and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad the weeks before, the peloton were onto their case.

Soon enough, Van Aert and his band of merry men were recaptured and the flurries of hopeful attacks flew off the front. None stuck until the 25km to go marker when Laporte, Biniam Girmay, Dries Van Gestel and Jasper Stuyven called the peloton’s bluff.

At this moment in time, it looked like a nailed-on victory for Jumbo’s in-form Laporte. If it wasn’t him, it would be Trek’s Stuyven. Well, at the end of a 200km one-day race, nothing can be deemed a certainty. Defying the odds, Girmay dashed past Laporte in the dying metres of the race to secure his first WorldTour victory and the first win at this level for a Black African rider.

Bini-mania was coming. The victory transcended cycling and picked up steam within the Eritrean diaspora who were rightfully inspired by their new talent. Few Classics on this list hold social importance as much as Gent Wevelgem 2022.

17. Paris 2024 Men’s Time-Trial

UCI Cycling

Time-trials need a bit of drama to be worth watching. What you need is some rain, a technical course and a tight-knit field of favourites and a race against the clock soon becomes a TV soap opera. Luckily, the Paris 2024 individual time-trial had all of that. There’s a reason why this is the only ‘race of truth’ to make the cut.

There were a handful of potential candidates for gold in Paris. Among them, Josh Tarling, Stefan Küng, Remco Evenepoel, Van Aert and Filippo Ganna. Tarling was seen by many as the the favourite, but a mechanical only a couple of kilometres in seemed to place his podium finish in jeopardy. In his absence, the door opened for Ganna to take a medal. He would almost come a cropper on the slippery roads of the French capital though. Luck was in no one’s favour.

Evenepoel’s distaste for rainy conditions also played into the see-saw of emotions. We weren’t quite sure if he’d make it all the way to the end in the lead, especially just one week after his exploits at the Tour de France. For the Belgian, he kept it upright to make it home across to the Trocodéro in first place, securing his first of two Olympic golds.

There was also some redemption for Van Aert who suffered some heavy bouts of bad luck in the spring. He’d finally make his way back onto a major podium in third place.

16. Milan-San Remo 2020

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Once the pandemic settled down in the summer of 2020, racing returned. More significant than normal then, Milan-San Remo that year still marked the beginning of the Monuments.

For much of the pack, this was the first day of WorldTour racing they had seen since the start of the season. However, once the peloton reached the Poggio, the race felt very familiar. Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe were the bravest on the climb and broke free. Initially, Alaphilippe had the advantage, but Van Aert’s bike-handling prowess brought him back on terms with the 2019 champion in a hair-raising descent.

Their gap wasn’t significant coming into the Via Roma. Philippe Gilbert towed the peloton behind within touching distance, hoping that he could pull off the one remaining Monument for his collection. However, it all came too late for the bunch and the duo juked it out to the line. Van Aert lunged his bike across the line first just a few centimetres ahead of the Frenchman to take his first – and still only – Monument title.

This marked a big change in the cycling ecosystem. Regarded as a phenom from cyclocross before, his win at La Classicissima signified a new age in cycling with a cast of new stars.

15. Paris 2024 Men’s Road Race

Zac Williams/ZW Photography

Ok, one Olympic road race was bound to feature on this list. There’s no event bigger than this, let’s be honest.

With walls of fans on the Butte Montmartre, Van der Poel and Van Aert reignited their rivalry on the world’s biggest sporting stage. It felt as though their time for Olympic glory had come. However, the duo wouldn’t last long upfront. They were swallowed up and the race was split into pieces.

A strong breakaway group were still up the road by this point and the odds were swinging in their favour. Ben Healy would light the race up early with a long-range solo move. For a fleeting moment, Irish fans were on their feet convinced of a rare Olympic medal. This was short lived however as Evenepoel played a blinder by catching out Van der Poel after Montmartre. Off the front, he tucked in for a typical time-trial-style move across to the remaining breakaway.

The Belgian would soon roll past every flailing escapee before successfully making the junction to the head of the race. Over Montmartre again, he would whittle the break down to just Frenchman Valentin Madouas who was highly motivated in his home Olympics. The Groupama rider hung on far longer than we thought before one final hammer blow by Evenepoel left him in the dust.

This wasn’t without drama, however, as the Evenepoel suffered a mechanical with less than 5km to go. He wasn’t sure of the time gap and he looked rattled. His lead was enough though and he secured a second Olympic gold of the week with a stunning finish line TV shot in front of the Eiffel Tower. Otherwise, Valentin Madouas’s excitement at a silver medal was heart-warming, and his compatriot Laporte capping off two medals for the host nation was something to behold.

The fans on Montmartre and the iconic backdrop certainly give this race a bit of a leg-up in this list. Add in the iconic finale photo of Evenepoel in front of the Eiffel Tower and it’s an instant classic.

14. Brabantse Pijl 2020

I’ll say this now. I have a soft spot for the Brabantse Pijl. It’s criminally underrated despite offering the perfect blend of hills and cobbles. Just look at the list of winners, you might be surprised.

The 2020 edition was one of the few warmup races before that year’s Tour of Flanders – bear in mind, it usually takes place after the Flemish Monument. At 11km to go, Alaphilippe lit the match and Van der Poel was forced to follow. In tow, Benoît Cosnefroy joined the two on course for victory.

In the final straight, Cosnefroy opened far too early, but he tempted reigning champion Van der Poel to follow suit. Alaphilippe was the most patient of the three and it paid off. He learned his lesson from Liège and waited until he was 100% certain of his win before celebrating. However, he still looked a bit apprehensive in his victory salute. History will look back on this win fondly, it was his first victory during his two-year stint in the rainbow bands.

A real clash on a wonderful parcours. What’s not to love?

13. UCI Road World Championships Under-23 Road Race

Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

The only under-23 race on this list, the Zurich World Championships offered a heated road race for the youngsters. On the start line, we had WorldTour pros and top-level names like Isaac del Toro, Alec Segaert and Tour de l’Avenir rivals Pablo Torres and Joe Blackmore. We anticipated one of these rising stars to claim the big cheese.

On the road, Pogačar’s long-term apprentice Jan Christen seemed to have pulled off a real humdinger of an attack. At long-range, the Swiss slipped away and held a minute lead by the final lap. Behind, the chase got their act together. ‘The next Pogačar‘ Jarno Widar towed the group within touching distance over the Witikon climb. Soon enough, they made the junction and the group began to look at each other.

Over a slight incline Niklas Behrens – who was the only non-senior pro – sprung a move. Slovak Martin Svrček slipped onto his wheel and the duo worked together. When it came to the finale it was an open prospect as to who would take the gold medal. In the final 100m, Svrček would capitulate and Behrens would become the unlikely winner, defeating the QuickStep pro to the rainbow jersey.

It’s not all about the elites at the World Championships.

12. Tro Bro Léon 2022

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James York

Undoutedly one of the quirkiest days in the race calendar, Tro Bro Léon was doing gravel races before it was cool. The Breton Classic weaves around farmers’ fields for the final half of the race. To add to its charm, it’s rooted in the area’s Celtic heritage and has become a key target for Breton teams like Arkéa-Samsic and the now-folded B&B Hotels p/b KTM.

In 2022, this Breton rivalry came to a head on a muddy day around northwestern France. Arkéa had the early upper hand, hammering it through the muddy climbs that would barely be allowed in the UCI Gravel World Championships. As the rain poured down, riders were falling victim to the slippy corners on the tarmac and off-road sections of the course.

New riders emerged in front, but their time in the spotlight would be ended abruptly. Take Florian Vermeersch for instance, who was destined for a podium before a poorly timed flat tyre. As their rivals’ tyres blew up, Arkéa outnumbered everyone in the lead group, bringing three teammates into the final 15km. The only non-Arkéa rider in the group, Luca Mozzatto, was bullied by his opponents through each sector, but the Italian would hold on to contest the victory.

After a picture-perfect leadout from Connor Swift, Hugo Hoffstetter would outsprint the youngster Mozzatto to the title, securing Arkéa their most impressive team victory to date. The Tro Bro Léon victory pig would remain in the Arkéa camp for another year.

11. Gent-Wevelgem 2020

WEVELGEM, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 11: Arrival / Mads Pedersen of Denmark and Team Trek - Segafredo / Celebration / Florian Senechal of France and Team Deceuninck - Quick-Step / Matteo Trentin of Italy and CCC Team / during the 82nd Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields 2020, Men Elite a 232,5km race from Ypres to Wevelgem / @GentWevelgem / @FlandersClassic / on October 11, 2020 in Wevelgem, Belgium. (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Luc Claessen/Getty Images

Deep in autumn, the 2020 Gent-Wevelgem was an absolute suffer-fest through brutal yet characteristically Belgian conditions.

On the muddy Ploegsteert and cobbled sectors, Dutch champion Van der Poel attempted everything he could to rip the group apart and lift off solo. That wouldn’t happen though, he was marked by a flurry of chancers including Matteo Trentin and Van Aert. Frustrated, Van der Poel drew out a competitive lead group that included the finest of Classics riders.

All eyes were on Van Aert and Van der Poel. They almost had tunnel vision on each other though as a group of ‘lesser rivals’ vaulted off the front on the run into Wevelgem. On their hands and knees, Mads Pedersen, Florian Sénéchal and Trentin were left to contest the win. Ultimately, the Trek-Segafredo rider would claim the victory. Of course he would, there are few riders better at a hardy sprint than Pedersen. After his shortened year in the rainbow bands, the Dane finally secured his first big Flemish win.

Van Aert and Van der Poel were outfoxed by everyone else in their group and spat out the back in the final kilometre. They would have to endure a humiliating eighth and ninth place respectively.

10. UCI Road World Championships 2021 Men’s Elite Road Race

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The UCI Road World Championships came to Belgium in 2021. It was a perfect match-up and the race delivered an attritional race that favoured the brave.

On home roads, the Belgians were confident, almost too confident though as Remco Evenepoel emerged in an attacking group at around 100km to go, sparking a war of words in the Belgian press after the race. Evenepoel wasn’t alone. The French team fired a number of attacks off the front, luring opponent teams to bridge across and burn their matches. Reigning champion Alaphilippe would launch numerous attacks up the Flemish hills. Each one seemed to tempt a favourite to expend energy, but the Frenchman was stubborn in his efforts.

One final attack up the Sint Antoniusberg would prove to be one attack too many for Alaphilippe’s rivals. In response, the pre-race favourites Van Aert and Van der Poel were out of the equation, and it was left to their teammates to contest any chance of reaching the podium. This untamed pursuit would ultimately fall far too short of pulling back the lone escapee from France.

Ahead, Alaphilippe cruised home for a second consecutive world title. Behind, anarchy dictated that outsiders Dylan van Baarle and Michael Valgren would take the remaining medals on offer.

9. E3 Saxo Bank Classic 2023

David Pintens/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty

2023 was truly the best Classics season of the 2020s so far. Let’s get that clear. One memorable race from that season has to be the first real Pogačar vs Van der Poel vs Van Aert showdown at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic.

The fun and games began at 80km to go with a Van der Poel attack. This gave a little peek at what we were about to see at the 60km to go marker where Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pogačar would soon rise to the head of the race. From here, all three would take turns to place a signature move. At this point, some were still surprised by just how well Pogačar could fare on the cobbles. Nevertheless, the Tour’s runner-up from the year prior was up for giving the other two a run for their money in their familiar terrain.

Van der Poel’s attempt at 30km to go looked the most decisive, but it would all come back together for a nervy cobbled finale, even if a TV moto almost wiped out the chances of Van Aert. The trio were content to wind it up for a final sprint, but a late attack from Pogačar almost derailed the truce.

In the dash to the line, Van Aert edged out Van der Poel to a relieving E3 victory, his first big cobbled win of the year. Coming into Flanders, he had the morale one-up on the others.

8. Milan-San Remo 2023

tadej pogacar, filippo ganna, wout van aert and mathieu van der poel at milan-san remo 2023
Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Would Pogačar attack on the Cipressa? Well, that was the question on everyone’s lips ahead of the 2023 Milan-San Remo.

It wasn’t until the Poggio that he would make his big move though. In hot pursuit, three heavyweights were thrown into the fight in the form of time-trial titan Ganna and the Classics dignitaries of Van der Poel and Van Aert. The group pushed each other to their limits to the peak of the climb, but Van der Poel saw his chance in the lull to leap in front and lead the race into the descent.

Solo by the end of the downhill, Van der Poel had a big enough gap to secure an emotional victory that mirrored his grandfather Raymond Poulidor’s 1961 win. This would also add the first non-cobbled Monument to Van der Poel’s trophy cabinet.

In the final run to the line, Ganna motored away to second place while Van Aert was forced to settle for another Monument podium. Hard luck.

7. Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2020

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One week after the DIY World Championships in Italy, the top pros carried their momentum into the Ardennes for Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

On the final climb of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, the decisive split was made. In the front group, we saw four stage winners from the recent Tour de France in Marc Hirschi, Alaphilippe, Pogačar and Primož Roglič. It was all very similar to the week before in Imola. This time, Alaphilippe couldn’t jump away and the group settled for a sprint.

Animated as usual, Alaphilippe looked to have gained an early jump, but his zig-zagging motion would be his downfall. Catching out Hirschi and Pogačar, he opened the door to Roglič on the other side of the road. Giddy with excitement in his new rainbow jersey, Alaphilippe spread his arms a little too soon. As he posted up, Roglič threw his bike under the Frenchman’s right arm and pipped him to the line. You could see the embarrassment on his face.

Just a couple of weeks after losing the Tour in spectacular fashion, Roglič had claimed his biggest one-day win to date. Alaphilippe was soon relegated to add to the embarrassment and stripped of a podium place altogether.

6. Paris-Roubaix 2023

GRUBER IMAGES

Much of the 2023 Spring Classics were a tussle between two Classics superteams: Jumbo-Visma and Alpecin-Deceuninck. This would soon come to fruition at Paris-Roubaix no less with the Dutch team taking control early on in the day. Their plan would come falling apart after a nasty crash for reigning champion Van Baarle and untimely punctures for Laporte. This would leave Van Aert up against the odds coming into the final 50km of the Hell of the North.

Through the Carrefour de l’Arbre, the two custodial rivals sprung off the front of the group. We thought we were in for another two-up battle to the line in the Roubaix Velodrome, but Van Aert would soon suffer a puncture that would rip him from the wheel of Van der Poel and the Dutchman continued his charge solo.

A daredevil final 15km ensued and Van der Poel railed every corner, almost taking him out on the ‘legends section’ near Hem. Behind, Van Aert was caught in a potato chase alongside Jasper Philipsen. While Van der Poel secured his plaque in the Roubaix Velodrome’s showers, Philipsen rounded out a successful day out for the Alpecin boys with a historic one-two in the Queen of the Classics.

Who knows whether Van Aert would have been able to hang on? Besides, Alpecin-Deceuninck caught him in a checkmate position and Philipsen denied him even a silver.

5. Tour of Flanders 2020

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Among the reshuffled season, the 2020 cobbled calendar concluded with the Tour of Flanders.

At the race, we got our long-awaited three-up battle between Alaphilippe, Van Aert and Van der Poel when the trio broke clear at 40km to go. To some surprise, Alaphilippe was the most aggressive of the group, rolling the dice even on flat and downhill pavé sectors. However, the Frenchman’s assault on a debut Flanders win would end soon. He struck a motorbike and his race – and season – was cut short early. With no fans, you could audibly hear his whimpers of pain on the tarmac. Brutal.

That left the cyclocross antagonists up in front. They hung on to each other over the final passage over the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg and we strapped in for an all-star sprint to the line for the Flanders title. Only a photo finish would separate the duo – a truly nerve-wracking ending to one of the best Monuments in years.

Flanders-born Van der Poel would be declared the victor, drawing level with Van Aert’s Monument record. This was just the beginning of his record-equalling run of three victories.

4. Paris-Roubaix 2021

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After a two and a half year wait, Paris-Roubaix returned in a deep autumnal spot. With this change of date, the rain was unavoidable. For the first time in twenty years, Paris-Roubaix was certain to be wet and dirt-ridden.

Unsurprisingly, the race was attritional. The early breakaway were in with a real chance and unfamiliar names were in the ring for a career-best Monument finish. In the chaos, Ineos’s Gianni Moscon escaped from the lead group to gain a hefty advantage coming into the final cobble sectors of the day.

The slippery mud-covered roads claimed many victims. None more notable than Moscon who suffered a costly crash on the pavé. With him ruled out, the race for the cobblestone trophy came down to three Roubaix debutants: Van der Poel, Florian Vermeersch and Sonny Colbrelli. Once they reached the Roubaix Velodrome with jerseys caked in mud, the trio teed themselves up for a fatigued sprint to the line.

Just weeks after claiming the European Champion’s jersey, the Italian Colbrelli would come out on top in an emotional sprint. Vermeersch came close with a second-place finish, but the recent History graduate from Ghent looked distraught, as did Van der Poel, who missed out on a much-anticipated Roubaix title.

3. Tour of Flanders 2023

Gruberimages

Now, for a race that was worth tuning in for from start to finish: the 2023 Tour of Flanders. In earnest, Pogačar, Van Aert and Van der Poel joined up on the startline for the first time at a major Cobbled classic. With this, we were always in for a blockbuster race.

The early phase of the race was scarred by the now infamous ‘Maciejuk puddle incident’. Down on personnel, the race immediately opened up and a group of elite second-tier favourites broke free at around 100km to go. Among them, Mads Pedersen took control of the lead group to stir up a real threat for the three galacticos behind.

They waited for their chance to bridge across and pounced with 60km remaining. Just like the week before at E3, the three stars were soon tete-a-tete with a minute deficit to make up to the Pedersen group up the road. Pogačar was clearly the most confident on the day and willing to test the legs and leave it all on the table. Up the Kwaremont one final time, he switched on the afterburners and soon caught up to the former World Champion Pedersen to go clear over the final cobbled berg.

The Slovenian beat the cobbled stars at their own game. A Tour de France winner as the winner of Flanders? We hadn’t seen that in a while.

2. Strade Bianche 2021

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Italy Photo Press 2021

If you were to ask people what their favourite race of the 2020s so far was, they’re likely to say ‘Strade Bianche 2021’. For you, I’m afraid it just misses out on our top spot.

The startlist for the 2021 race was stacked. It was a who’s who of GC contenders and Classics stars old and new. On the roads, the attacks were all over the shop. Alaphilippe was one of the most active. He made a fine-tuned selection at around 20km to go that thinned the group out to Van der Poel, Van Aert, Pogačar, Tom Pidcock, Egan Bernal, Alaphlippe and, surprisingly, Michael Gogl. In this group alone we had a World Champion, the two most recent Tour winners, two Monument men, a cyclocross prodigé and a Michael Gogl.

They battled it out on the final sterrato sections and, through the dust, a leading trio soon emerged comprising Van der Poel, Alaphilippe and Bernal. Prepped for the final climb, all three were able to take the crown, but Van der Poel launched one of his most impressive attacks to date. This final attack up the slopes of the Via Santa Catarina was biblical and the photos now live on in the cycling cultural canon.

Strade Bianche at its best, Mathieu van de Poel at his best.

1. UCI World Road Championships Men’s Elite Road Race 2023

mathieu van der poel world championships
Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

Like the aforementioned 2021 Strade Bianche, 2023 Tour of Flanders, road racing is at its best when you have GC galacticos clashing against Classics contenders. At the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow, this all mixed together to make a mighty day’s racing.

Unlike a regular Classics route, no one really knew what to expect from the criterium-like Glasgow city centre circuit. Not many riders came out to Scotland beforehand to scout the course and the relentless mix of climbs, corners and changing road surfaces caught many napping. After a protest forced the race to stop for an hour, Denmark set an infernal pace upon entering the Glaswegian loop for the first time. Not long after, the first moves were made up Scott Street.

With every steep kicker up Great George Street, Kelvingrove Park and Montrose Street, the race was filtered down, even within the opening two laps. We soon saw Pogačar drill into the Scottish bergs and an elite quartet would emerge, containing arguably the four best Classics riders of the 2020s so far – Van der Poel, Pogačar, Van Aert and Pedersen.

Alberto Bettiol offered a pang of hope with a long-range move from around 60km to go, but he was reeled in just in time for Van der Poel to use his slipstream as a launchpad for his hammerhead move at 20km to go. Cresting the top of Great George Street alone, the Dutchman was on his own and ready for a thrilling final 30 minutes in the lead. This wouldn’t come without a tumble through a wet corner in the penultimate lap that cost him a Boa dial and almost the race.

The remnants of the second group would continue to fight blow for blow in the remaining kilometres for the remaining medals, with Van Aert going clear one final time up Montrose Street. While Van der Poel secured his first world title on the road, the medals would be scooped up by the two biggest names in one-day racing: Van Aert and Pogačar. We might never see a podium this strong at a World Championships ever again.

A perfect day of racing with a little bit for everyone. This is well worth the re-watch from the first kilometre.

The post The 21 best men’s one-day races of the 2020s so far appeared first on Cyclist.


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