BiciRace.com :: News :: September 2005

News :: September 2005

23 September 2005

Boonen Not Impressed With Worlds

Belgian, Tom Boonen, who won this year's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, is not so impressed with the course for the Madrid World Championships. Yesterday Boonen let his thoughts be known, "It is no secret that I want to wear the rainbow jersey, but the parcours is totally irresponsible."

There is that final U-Turn at 600 meters to the line, it will really cause drama in the race finale. "Everyone who is there coming into that final turn will think that they can be the World Champion. We will come into that curve with a speed of 80 Kph, and everyone will be waiting until the final moment to touch the breaks. This is were the crashes will happen, many comments will follow afterwards, but they will be too late."

Van Petegem In Belgian Kit, photo: Davitamon-Lotto

Tom Boonen, Peter Van Petegem and the rest of the Belgian crew previewed the course yesterday. They had to weave their way through traffic because the course had not yet been closed to traffic. Today they will have another chance to try out the parcours, minus traffic. Saturday starts the Women's race and U23 Men's race, then Sunday is the grand finale, the Elite Men's World Championship Road Race. Stay tuned to BiciRace.com.

Velo And Bennati Talk About Finale

Italians Marco Velo and Daniele Bennati will be the final two lead-out men for Alessandro Petacchi on Sunday. They have spent the last few days in Madrid, previewing the course with the rest of the Squadra Azzurra. "This is like the finishing circuit in Milano [Giro d'Italia]. With the difference being that here the finale is not flat," said Velo yesterday. "Who does not have the legs will not remain at the front. The last curve is a key point: to make the best approach you have to go wide, but if the line is restricted then you will end up passing your teammate. You can't leave anything to chance, we have to try to be steady, like we were last Sunday at the Vuelta. It is also important that Ale is protected and exits the corner in front. We have an idea of how to tackle this, but it always depends on the others there.

Bennati is likely to be the final lead-out man for Ale-Jet. He, along with Velo, will do the work following the U-turn. "We will arrive to the last bend fast, then have to break hard, and then restart at less than 20 Kph," said Bennati. "Who arrives on your back will have an advantage because they can attack very late. With Ale there has to be two men to deliver him to 150 meters."

2005 Squadra Azzurra Profile

Young Rogers is a Big Winner

Winning Ride, photo: Rabobank

Michael Rogers is only 25 years-old and has managed to make history. By winning the World Championship TT yesterday in Madrid he became the first person to ever win the title three times. Even better is that he won the title three years in a row: Hamilton, Verona, and now Madrid. "It has really been an honor to enter the cycling history books," said the Aussie after the race.

"I really suffered but I managed to win the gold, and for the third time. There will be a huge party!" The party was hosted by his Varese-based fan club, which contains a large number of crazed Aussies and Italians. The Aussie got his start in Italy with the famous Mapei squadra, along with a lot of other big-name riders. Their base was in Goria Minore, near Varese. It was there Rogers found his love, Alessia, and the two will be married next month.

Madrid World Championships, 22 & 25 September
Main Worlds Page
Time Trial, TT Profile, TT Overall Map, TT Startlist
Road Race, RR Profile, RR Overall Map, RR Startlist

Varese Uses 1951 Circuit

2008 Varese Road Course

Yesterday it was announced that the Italian city of Varese would host the 2008 World Championships. It will not be the first time for the city to host the Worlds, they did so back in 1951, when Swiss, Ferdy Kübler won. 57 years later the same circuit will be used, starting and ending on the "Le Bettole" horse track. (see the Race Profile)

The course will cover 17.6K, with the key point being the Ronchi climb. The climb is 3K with a average of 4.5% gradient, and a max of 12%. From the top of the climb there is a flat 4K to the finish. The Ronchi, combined with the usual distance of a World Championships, will make for a very tough course. A course that could be suited to the local favorite, Ivan Basso. It would be something for Basso to pull off a win on home turf: in the history of the Worlds there have only been 10 editions in Italy, and only two of those resulted in an Italian victory (Alfredo Binda in 1932 at Rocca di Papa and Vittorio Adorni in 1968 at Imola).

Read:
2008 World Championships to Varese, 22 September
Varese, a Comune Overflowing with Favorites, 3 May

22 September News ...