2013 Road World Championships: Men's Road Race, Lucca-Firenze 272.2 km

[LaFlorecita]

I don't remember Evans needing to sprint at Mendrisio and this course is even harder

If this is raced as hard as most WC's it will be an absolute smash fest. There will be around 3500m of climbing over the whole race, that is going to be plenty.

Evans is a good hilly classics rider

 

[Pentacycle]

It looks good for the Italians... Nibbles or Moser could do well on that course.

It looks even better for the Spaniards. Valverde, Rodriguez or even Contador can all win with this amount of climbing
The Fiesole could be too much for Moser, also for Gilbert(although he believes he can win), if the race is hard. But of course Nibali will entertain us as he always does.

 

[Eshnar]

It looks even better for the Spaniards. Valverde, Rodriguez or even Contador can all win with this amount of climbing
The Fiesole could be too much for Moser, also for Gilbert(although he believes he can win), if the race is hard. But of course Nibali will entertain us as he always does.

It's too early to say what could be too much for a guy like Moser

 

[the asian]

It's too early to say what could be too much for a guy like Moser

Indeed, but I see him as a puncheur rather than a climber. The course next year should be too tough, considering his age as well.
However I'll be extremely disappointed if he doesn't win a rainbow jersey in his career.
Depending on their availability Nibali and Pozzo will be Italy's leaders next year.
Moser perhaps the wild card along with Ulissi.

 

[The Hitch]

Indeed, but I see him as a puncheur rather than a climber. The course next year should be too tough, considering his age as well.
However I'll be extremely disappointed if he doesn't win a rainbow jersey in his career.
Depending on their availability Nibali and Pozzo will be Italy's leaders next year.
Moser perhaps the wild card along with Ulissi.

Giovani Visconti should be italies leader for that course, as he can handle the ascents then do well in the sprint.

 

[Kwibus]

The official mascot for Tuscany 2013 is - Pinocchio!

http://www.toscana2013.it/?page=12

Hilarious

 

[Parrulo]

Giovani Visconti should be italies leader for that course, as he can handle the ascents then do well in the sprint.

lol what? Visconti won't be able to handle neither the climbs nor the distance. this will be tougher then LBL and GdL. nibali and cunego should be the leaders for this but since they won't call cunego to the team nibali and ulissi are probably the best bets.

 

[blaxland]

Not so shore?Lets hope it is a hard race from the go?otherwise i see a survival of the strongest type race"I guess i just would like to see a course with cat 1/2 climbs on it(similar to Mendrisio or columbia)i think a puncher type rider will win this race.Maybe Gilbert can double up??

 

[Ferminal]

lol what? Visconti won't be able to handle neither the climbs nor the distance. this will be tougher then LBL and GdL. nibali and cunego should be the leaders for this but since they won't call cunego to the team nibali and ulissi are probably the best bets.

I'd give Visconti a chance in the U23s.

 

[movingtarget]

Hilarious

Not great timing !

 

[greenedge]

I will say this course suits riders like Nibali, Evans, Vanendert, JROD/Valverde and my surprise Inglinsky.
Then there will be a host of others like Gilbert, Sagan and Cancellara who can do great on their day.

 

[El Pistolero]

Lol, there's no way Vanendert will be leader if Phil has good form.

 

[greenedge]

I only said it would suit him, not that he shall be leader.

 

[avanti]

It looks like the mens race finishes with around ten laps of the 16.6 km circuit which would include more than 3,000 m of climbs. Yes a tough race course.

 

[BlenJones2]

im expecting a good ride from the columbians again. the past couple of races uran and henao have had good rides in some of the big international races where due to their small team size they dont have too force the pace like belgium, gb, italy. whether theyre good enough too beat valverde, jrod, evans, nibbles only time will tell

 

[Lupetto]

No thumbs up from Bavarian Rider for 57 km of ITT?

Road Race 272 km's.

 

[Red Rick]

Looks great, does anyone have the profiles of the 2 main climbs and the small bump after the second climb? Looks like there are plenty of places to launch an attack. Also, is the descend technical?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Looks great, does anyone have the profiles of the 2 main climbs and the small bump after the second climb? Looks like there are plenty of places to launch an attack. Also, is the descend technical?

There is a youtube video ..not profile mind

 

[search]

Looks great, does anyone have the profiles of the 2 main climbs and the small bump after the second climb? Looks like there are plenty of places to launch an attack. Also, is the descend technical?

I posted all the stuff on vr, but there is also a pdf including profiles of the climbs on the official website

 

[greenedge]

If so a strong team:Moreno Moser, Luca Paolini, Diego Ulissi, Giovanni Visconti, Valerio Agnoli, Marco Marcato, Dario Cataldo and Salvatore Puccio.
Pozzato is at the bottom of the list apparently.

Malori, Capecchi and Aru should be three other riders considered. Cunego should be in there, Ballan if he has recovered will be a good road captain.

 

[Squire]

Too bad Grabsch is no longer that good. Seeing that profile must be mouthwatering for him.

 

[Bavarianrider]

No thumbs up from Bavarian Rider for 57 km of ITT?

Road Race 272 km's.

It's good no doubt.

Is the Team TT done on the same track?

 

[tomorrow]

my bet is on colombian guys, betancur could do best of them. There is only question if he can hold his shape till late september.


I'm quite curious, how sagan will show there. His team manager has been talking about some special training in US to get him in shape for WC. If he's there in the end, I'd be surprised, however not being a favourite for a change could suite him well. I think it will be all about how hard will the race be made by the climbers, especially nibali, spanish and colombian guys. If they just watch each other, then they could very easilly be surprised in the by some puncher, especially with somebody with excellent descending skill, like Sagan in example.

 

[hayzer114]

Course has 'Dan Martin' written all over it.

 

[Afrank]

I like this course the more I look at it. That Ponte Alla Badia climb with 11.4% grade and max of 16% is going to really make the legs sting.
Hope for Nibali to take this. Betancur, Quintana and the other Colombians I could see being a major threat. I wonder if we could see someone TT away from everyone like they had a motor in their bike.

Hopefully all or at least most of the main contenders go to the Vuelta so they show up in form and ready to battle it out.