Men's World Championship road race 2024 predictions and cycling betting tips: Remco Evenepoel value to thwart hot favourite Tadej Pogacar

Where to watch the 2024 men's world championship road race

Eurosport 1 & BBC iPlayer, from 9.30am Sunday

Best bet

Remco Evenepoel to win men's road race
1.5pts each-way 5-1 Hills

2024 men's world championship road race predictions

Only two men, Eddy Merckx and Ireland's Stephen Roche, have won cycling's triple crown but Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar is odds-on to make that a holy trinity in Zurich on Sunday.

Pogacar has already won the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in dominant fashion this year and a world championship course heavy on climbing makes him the overwhelming favourite to become just the third male cyclist to win the Maglia Rosa, Maillot Jaune and rainbow bands in the same season.

The case for Pogacar is highly compelling. He won six stages at both the Giro and Tour, has won one-day races Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and warmed up for his crack at the worlds with a typically authoritative success at the Grand Prix Montreal a fortnight ago.

Pogacar has geared his entire autumn around winning the worlds, so it's easy to understand why he is as short as 4-7.

There are probably worse favourites running at that price at racecourses on a weekly basis, but the worlds are a unique test usually contested over one of the longest distance of the year, and at 275km this season's race will be brutal given the amount of climbing.

Pogacar's previous worlds appearances have yielded finishes of 18th, 33rd, 37th, 19th and third last year, while he has been fifth, fourth and third at Milan-San Remo, the longest race of the year at almost 300km, in the last three years. And that has to be of consideration to anyone backing him at cramped odds.

The Slovenian is not the only rider chasing history in Zurich, either. Belgium's Remco Evenepoel has already won the time-trial and road race titles at the Olympics, and following his worlds success against the clock a week ago he is going for the double-double on Sunday.

If Pogacar's record over the longest distances is a cause for slight doubt, Evenepoel's is a huge plus as he has already won the road race at the 2022 World Championship, over 267km in Australia, and his golden moment at the Olympics came after 272km of racing.

He's also a three-time winner of the Clasica de San Sebastian, a lumpy 230km test, and has twice triumphed at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Evenepoel, who is Belgium's number-one option after Wout van Aert pulled out, was no match for Pogacar at the Tour but one-day races probably bring them closer together and, with Hills offering four each-way places , the 5-1 about the Olympic champion creating his own piece of history is too big to ignore.

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