BiciRace.com :: 2005 World Championships

2005 World Championships, Preview

World Championships, Spain

22 & 25 September

Preview

Races
22 September, Time Trial, Madrid, 44K, Profile, Overall Map, Startlist
25 September, Road Race, Madrid, 273K, Profile, Overall Map, Startlist

Road Race

2004 RR Champ, Oscar Freire, photo: Rabobank

The stage is the streets of Madrid. The actors are the finest cyclists the world has to offer. All that remains is to see how the drama of this year's World Championship road race plays out. The anticipation has been building for months. As of the writing of this preview, Alessandro Petacchi has won 4 stages of the Vuelta a España, and his form is absolutely scorching. At this point the only thing separating him from a gold medal is perhaps some bad teamwork and some plain old bad luck. The Australian contingent is stacked deep with talent. On its books are several fast-men: Baden Cooke, Allan Davis and Robbie McEwen. McEwen is one of the few sprinters that can go toe-to-toe with Petacchi and actually beat him. It promises to be a battle royale.

This is a sprinter's parcours, and if Italian national DS, Franco Ballerini, learned anything from 2002 in Zolder Belgium, it was not to stack a team with the biggest names the country has to offer, but rather to carefully select team players that will sacrifice everything for their chosen leader. This is Spain's modus operandi, and they have won 5 road race titles since 1995, not to mention a couple of silver medals too. Spain will be without the services of their ace, Oscar Freire, but could still pull out something big with the talent laden opportunist, Juan Antonio Flecha.

Riders will complete 13 circuits of 21.3 kilometers each, giving them a total of 273 strength sapping kilometers to complete before a victor will emerge. To put it in perspective, that is exactly the distance from Seattle Washington to Portland Oregon. There are a couple of little climbs that could foil the sprinters: the Dehesa de la Villa topping at 8.1K into the circuit, and the sections that lead up to Plaza de Castilla, topping out at 18.3K. The Plaza de Castilla combines sections of 5 and 2% over 5.7K, that may not seem like much but could be a launch pad for an attack. Look for a rider like Alexander Vinokourov to show his legs here.

Time Trial

2004 TT Champ, Mick Rogers, photo: Quick-Step

The Casa de Campo area of Madrid will play host to the time trial. Each lap of the time trial championship will consist of 22 kilometers, giving the elite men 2 circuits to put as much time as possible into their rivals. There is little elevation gain over the course. In fact, the altitude will vary from approximately 570 to 700 meters. The biggest curve ball thrown at the riders will be the ascension of the Teleférico, which comes at kilometer 14.5. It drags on for 900m and its 7% grade will be one of the few times the riders will be out of their big chain rings. With Madrid being located atop a plateau, the altitude there is a little higher than the norm, but still shouldn't play much of a factor in the outcome.

With American TT whiz kid, David Zabriskie, possibly sitting out the Worlds, fans on the west side of the pond will have to look for Bobby J to bring home the goods. Before you laugh, remember Julich took a medal at the Olympics time trial, and has been having one hell of a stellar season.

Germany will be bringing the Teutonic time trial monster Michael Rich. He doesn't do much the rest of the year, but his massive quads are quite effective at turning over the big chain ring for long periods of time.

The smart money has to be on Australia. It seems to be the time trialing epicenter of the southern hemisphere. Remember, each country can enter 4 riders, 2 of whom may compete. At this point, Australia has the reigning world time trial champ, Michael Rogers, on its books, as well as Luke Roberts and Bradley McGee. Roberts is an outside bet for gold, but either of the other two could easily snag top honors.
- Paco