A UCI Road World Championships located so far from the cycling heartland of Europe was never likely to be business as normal, but it turns out that it is more than the distant location, time-zone and reverse seasons that will make this edition in Wollongong, Australia an unusual one.
It is a rainbow jersey battle where spiralling travel costs and a WorldTour relegation battle that is seeing trade teams pull rank over national squads, is taking some out of the action before the racing has even begun.
Still, the big names are lining up so that will likely quickly fade into the background once the racing gets underway from September 18 to 25. Annemiek van Vleuten, Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marianne Vos, hopefully, two-time defending world champion Julian Alaphilippe, and Tadej Pogačar will go to battle on a road course heavy on climbing and a technical time trial circuit that is packed with corners.
The course, located south of Sydney in New South Wales, that takes in the climbs and the coast looks set to deliver action-packed racing for World Road Championships second stop in Australia, with the first being Geelong in 2021.
The Wollongong event also marks the return of international road racing to a nation that has been isolated for the past two years after strict border closures imposed during COVID-19 pandemic were only lifted early this year.
The limited opportunity to make the long trip for course reconnaissance means most competitors will be racing in unfamiliar territory, at a time when if they were in Europe they would likely be asleep and amid the blooming flowers of early spring in the southern hemisphere, rather than the turning leaves of the northern hemisphere autumn. They’ll also be racing in a place where bike racing is far from mainstream and even the die-hard fans from around the nation haven’t had the opportunity to witness top level riders on Australian roads for more than two seasons.
Of course many of those spectators will be looking for a home victor so there’ll be no shortage of focus on the likes of Grace Brown and Michael Matthews, as while the nation’s sporting tendencies may lean more heavily to football than bikes there is no doubt it has a population that knows how to throw themselves into a big sporting event, especially if Australia is in with a chance.
The 11 championship races, which will result in the awarding of 13 titles, are expected to be watched by 300 million around the world. The…
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