UCI World Championship Road Race 2025

September 28, 2025 The World's Road Race is usually held on a grueling course over a long distance and the route in Kigali is no different. At 267KM with an unbelievable 5,500M of elevation, the race will surely be one of attrition. There are three climbs on each lap, the first is a short 300M ramp at 6% that the riders will barely notice. On the backside of the course is a climb up through the Kigali Golf Resort which is 800M at 8%. The final hill on the lap is the Côte de Kimihurura, a 1.3KM cobbled climb at an average of 6%. None of this sounds too demanding but the difficulty comes in their repetitive nature. The first phase of the race covers nine laps before a one-time loop out to the West of Kigali to take on Mont Kigali, a 6KM climb at just under 7% and the cobbled Mur de Kigali. The riders return to the circuit for another six laps, bringing the climb count to over 50. To make things even more difficult, Kigali sits at 1,500M above sea level which is right at the point where oxygen becomes a bit more scarce. The winner will be more than deserving of the privilege to wear the rainbow stripes for the next year. The air was thick with heat and humidity at the start as the flag dropped and the race got underway. Red Walters of Grenada was the first to get a gap but a stronger group came across and Walters unfortunately couldn't hang on. Ivo Oliveira of Portugal, Fabio Christen of Switzerland, Menno Huising of The Netherlands, Marius Mayrhofer of Germany, and Anders Foldager of Denmark made up the new group and built 50 seconds with 255KM to go. Julien Bernard of France bridged up as they hit the finish line for 8 laps to go. Slovenia started riding when the gap reached 2 minutes and they got help from the Unite States and the Belgians. France were really aggressive and opened the race up again with attacks from Julian Alaphilipe and Paul Seixas. Raúl García Pierna of Spain counter attacked when the gap was down to 1 minute. Another group containing Isaac del Toro of Mexico, Fred Wright of Great Britain, Victor Campenaerts of Belgium and Seixas joined up with García Pierna but sense crept into the riders' minds and they all went back to the peloton with the exception of García Pierna who persisted. García Pierna bridged to the front group with 222KM to go after a long solo chase of around 20KM. A few moments later, Marc Soler of Spain crashed at high speed on a straight road and took down Ilan Van Wilder of Belgium, Bjorn Koerdt of Great Britain and a few others, all of which had to abandon. Eric Manizabayo of Rwanda attacked from the bunch and was able to ride up through the finish line in front of a home crowd. He was caught with 218KM to go but would have that memory for a lifetime. After a chaotic start, the race finally settled down and Slovenia, Belgium, and the United States resumed their chase. Florian Vermeersch of Belgium was the primary work horse in the peloton and had the break controlled at 2 minutes 30 seconds. With eight laps ridden and one lap to go on the first set of the local circuit, other teams moved up with the Western loop out to Mont Kigali ahead. With 130KM to go as the bunch was about to exit the main circuit, Mauro Schmid of Switzerland went on the attack but he was hauled back quickly. In the break, the group started to split as the strongest riders rose to the front. Oliveira, Bernard, and Foldager went clear with 126KM to go with a lead of 2 minutes. The sight was unbelievable as hundreds of thousands of screaming fans lined the road from 115KM to go all the way to the top of Mont Kigali 9KM later. At the bottom of the climb, Vermeersch's work was done as the pace increased as a result of the positioning battle. Bernard rode Oliveira and Foldager off his wheel and was alone at front of the race with 2KM to climb but the gap was disintegrating. With 600M to the top, Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia made a seated acceleration that only Juan Ayuso of Spain could handle. Bernard was caught on the 17% slope near the top as Pogačar pulled Ayuso clear of the bunch. Riders were spread everywhere by this point but del Toro was able to bridge up on the descent to make three at the front. On the Mur de Kigali, Ayuso popped under del Toro's pace and was forced to drop back to a chase group of around 15 riders at half a minute with 99KM still to race. Pogačar and del Toro arrived back on the circuit and hit the finish line for six laps and 90KM to go with a gap of 45 seconds to the chase which had swelled to nearly 40 riders. Belgium, Italy, and Australia got organized and started to work together. Not long after, Australia lost both Jay Vine and Michael Matthews at the same moment and they disappeared from the chase. The Italians also moved further down the group leaving just Belgium to do the work. On the Côte de Kimihurura coming into 5 laps to go, Remco Evenepoel of Belgium stopped due to a mechanical and had to wait ages for the car to bring up a new bike. Meanwhile, Ben Healy of Ireland accelerated over the top and the race was leaving Evenepoel behind. When the chase group crossed the line, only 20 riders were left and they were still 45 seconds down of del Toro and Pogačar. Healy, Pavel Sivakov of France, and Mikkel Honoré of Denmark broke away with 72KM to go and quickly brought 15 seconds off the gap to del Toro and Pogačar. Their ability to push was waning however because on the climb through Kigali Golf with 67KM to go, Pogačar dropped del Toro and the gap to the Healy group had grown again to 45 seconds. Evenepoel managed to rejoin group three at 1 minute 10 seconds and they were closing in on the Healy group. Evenepoel single handedly closed the gap to Healy, Sivakov, and Honoré. Through the line at 4 laps and 60KM to go, Evenepoel had Jai Hindley of Australia, Tom Pidcock of Great Britain, Mattias Skjelmose of Denmark, and Healy with him, 1 minute behind Pogačar. One lap later, Evenepoel put down the power on the Côte de Kimihurura and dropped Hindley and Pidcock but the gap to Pogačar had increased to 1 minute 5 seconds. The situation continued the same all the way to 20.5KM to go when Evenepoel attacked Skjelmose and Healy. Neither had a response and Evenepoel quickly built a 20 second lead. Even as Evenepoel increased the gap over Healy and Skjelmose, he was unable to put a dent in Pogačar's lead. With 6KM to go, Healy made a bid for the final medal spot and attacked Skjelmose up through Kigali Golf. Skjelmose was empty and Healy pushed on towards the finish. The gaps were so large between all the riders that the final 5KM were just about getting to the finish for everyone left on course. After over 6 hours and 20 minutes of racing, Pogačar crossed the line in celebration to resume his reign as World Road Race Champion. Evenepoel put on a dazzling show of class and strength to defy his poor luck and land a Silver medal. Healy took the last podium spot for Bronze, 2 minutes 16 seconds after Pogačar. Only 30 riders finished the race in what was one of the most challenging and attritional World Championships in history.