In 2022, the Road World Championships will be held from September 18 to 25 in Wollongong, Australia. The routes for the elite women’s and men’s races – which will be held on September 24 and 25 respectively – are made up of two key elements: the Mount Keira Loop and the Wollongong City Circuit. Both races will complete one Mount Keira Loop before the men’s peloton tackle 12 city laps in Wollongong while the women complete six. The U23 and junior races will be held on the Wollongong circuit in their entirety.
AusCycling has created routes which are well-suited to the puncheurs of the peloton. The riders who succeed the current world champions, Elisa Balsamo and Julian Alaphilippe, will need to cope with repeated, tough accelerations on a course which is going to be a battle of attrition. The city circuit is 17.7km long and has 220m of climbing elevation per lap. Most of this elevation comes from the Mount Pleasant climb which spans 1.1 km with an average gradient of 7.7% and a maximum incline of 14%. Each lap, this is going to sting the rider’s legs and it will only get harder as the races drag on.
The city roads on the circuits around Wollongong are also tight and complicated, with twists, turns and road furniture to navigate. Team organisation in the lead up to Mount Pleasant is going to be crucial, and we can expect to see a big fight to the base of the climb each lap. Before the elite riders even get to this point, though, they have Mount Kiera to contend with, a 8.7km long climb with an average gradient of 5% and slopes at 15%. Though this comes too early in the elite men’s and women’s races to be decisive, it could be the end of some rider’s chances of going for the victory and will add to the accumulation of fatigue that is going to build throughout the day’s racing.
It’s fair to say that whoever pulls on the rainbow stripes after the races in Wollongong will be a deserved winner: it’s going to be one of the toughest World Championships in recent history. The men’s event has a total elevation gain of close to 4000m, on par with a mountain stage in the Tour de France. For fans, it’s going to be a spectacle too, the route invites attacking, aggressive racing and the Worlds always provides a suitable amount of drama.
UCI Road World Championships 2022 elite men’s race map and profile
Date: September 25, 2022
Start time: 10:15 AEST (1:15 GMT)
Finish time (approx): 16:51 AEST (7:51 GMT)
Distance: 266.9km
Elevation…