2020 World Championships - now confirmed for Imola, Italy.

[Broccolidwarf]

This first post contained the original route for Switzerland.

It will be updated as soon as the new route at Imola is made public.

There will be no Juniors or U/23 competition, only the 4 elite championships will be held:

September 24th: Womens Individual TT
September 25th: Mens Individual TT
September 26th: Womens Individual RR
September 27th: Mens Individual RR

From the UCI press release:

"Although the start and finish of all the events will take place on the Imola automobile racing circuit, the routes proposed by the organising committee stand out due to their extremely challenging character:

The men’s road race will be 259.2km with a total of nearly 5000m of climbing, while the length of the women’s race will be 144km with a cumulated 2750m of ascension.

The circuit (28.8km) will be the same for the men (9 laps) and women (5 laps) and will include two difficult climbs (3km in total with an average gradient of 10% and sections reaching 14%).

These characteristics will offer the riders a profile comparable to that of Aigle-Martigny (Switzerland) which will suit the punchers and climbers and should produce exciting and lively races.

The time trial circuit (to be covered once by both men and women), fairly flat, will measure 32km with 200m altitude difference, suiting the strongest specialists of the race against the clock."

Link to updated official UCI information on the race and route:

https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/official-documents/2018-uci-road-world-championships/2020/2020-rwc-imola-general-information-bulletin-eng.pdf

Road race route (circuit of 28.8 kilometres):
Men 9 circuits = 258.8 kilometres
Women 5 circuits = 143 kilometres

Time Trial route:
Men and women both ride 1 circuit = 31.7 kilometres

Preliminary start lists:

Mens RR:

Startlist for World Championships ME - Road Race 2020

Competing teams and riders for World Championships ME - Road Race 2020. Top competitors are Tadej PogaÄar, Marc Hirschi and Alejandro Valverde.

www.procyclingstats.com

Mens TT:

Startlist for World Championships ME - ITT 2020

Competing teams and riders for World Championships ME - ITT 2020. Top competitors are Wout van Aert, Brandon McNulty and Stefan Küng.

www.procyclingstats.com

Womens RR:

Startlist for World Championships WE - Road Race 2020

Competing teams and riders for World Championships WE - Road Race 2020. Top competitors are , and .

www.procyclingstats.com

Womens TT:

Startlist for World Championships WE - ITT 2020

Competing teams and riders for World Championships WE - ITT 2020. Top competitors are , and .

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Pantani_lives]

That looks great! A local lap with a steep climb of 4km. Perfect for specialists of the climbing classics: Fuglsang, Alaphilippe, Pinot, Nibali...

 

[Laplaz]

Nibali's last shot. Forza Squalo!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Nibali's last shot. Forza Squalo!

It is going to be an odd GT season next year, with both Olympics and Worlds being for climbers/GC riders.

For instance, Fuglsang has already said, he is not doing GC at the Tour, because he is focusing on the Olympics.

 

[Blanco]

It's going to be an old men show, Nibali vs Bala...

 

[OlavEH]

Excellent route! Even tougher than Innsbruck last year. If Flanders in 2021 also manages to create a combo of cobbles and short hills, we are in for some very nice WC road races the next couple of years.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

With the olympic road race having close to 5000m of climbing I think it would have been better for this worlds course to be less extreme and a lot more open

 

[Pantani_lives]

It's going to be an old men show, Nibali vs Bala...

There are enough young men who can climb: Pogacar, Bernal, Evenepoel...

 

[sir fly]

Anything about the tt course?

 

[Asero831]

 

[Asero831]

There are news that ITT will be moved on opening weekend swaping days with Mixed Relay

 

[Breh]

Anything about the tt course?

300 altitude meters I think, pretty flat.

 

[Blanco]

There are enough young men who can climb: Pogacar, Bernal, Evenepoel...

Yes, there were enough of them in Insbruck too...

 

[tobydawq]

Bala in for the 3-peat

 

[KZD]

I have mixed feeling about this route. On paper I like hard World Championships routes, however considering that the Olympics next year will already have a climbers route I think that there wasn't necessity to have such a hard course particularly one that resembles Innsbruck. At least the time trial is flat to balance the super hard Tokyo route.
I am curious to see how will GT riders balance their season. Perhaps many GC riders including the favourites Valverde and Nibali will only do one GT.

 

[Rollthedice]

Looking at it today to what looks like Civiglio seven times and a total length just a tad shorter than the distance from his home to the start line, it's Nibali territory with a good measure of Pino thrown in. Next year, who knows? Bernal, Pogacar and a whole plethora of climbers eager to show themselves. It will be crucial to reach the proper shape at the right time and to have a very good team to keep things in check as long as possible.

 

[sir fly]

About two months between the Olympics and Worlds, and pretty complementary routes.
Wonder if anybody will take that double into consideration... Along with the Tour.
Worth thinking about. Theoretically, a chance like this occurs once every four years. Practically - far less.

And such a schedule widely opens Vuelta field.

 

[Red Rick]

Very little time between the RR and the end of the Tour, and there's jet lag to consider.

Very likely the ideal road to Tokyo is doing 2 weeks of the Tour.

 

[sir fly]

Very little time between the RR and the end of the Tour, and there's jet lag to consider.

Very likely the ideal road to Tokyo is doing 2 weeks of the Tour.

Yeah, most probably.
Tour contenders make lower echelons of Olympic contenders, anyway.

 

[Koronin]

I like that route. Could be another one for Bala. I could it as a battle between Bala and Nibali. I suspect Spain will put together another team fully behind Valverde. I suspect we see Valverde do Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds. The question will be does he skip both the Giro and Tour?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

My money is on Fuglsang, after Alaphilippe beats him on the line at the olympics

It's his kind of gradients and he is an excellent decender, with the stamina for a long race.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I like that route. Could be another one for Bala. I could it as a battle between Bala and Nibali. I suspect Spain will put together another team fully behind Valverde. I suspect we see Valverde do Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds. The question will be does he skip both the Giro and Tour?

I question whether contenders for the world championships will do the Vuelta next year, except maybe solely as preparation for worlds.

I think Roglic proved the other day, that you cannot do the Vuelta full gas, and still be at your peak at worlds (we'll know more Sunday ).

Add to that, that next year a lot of these riders, will already have hit the 2nd (Ardennes being 1st) form peak mid season, because of the Olympics.

Though you may be right in the specific case of Valverde..... he's won worlds, and because of the mentioned dynamics, next year may be his best chance ever, to win a Vuelta, so he may prioritise differently.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Very little time between the RR and the end of the Tour, and there's jet lag to consider.

Very likely the ideal road to Tokyo is doing 2 weeks of the Tour.

Maybe we're in for a favourites' exodus from the Tour 2020 halfway through - that would be ... interesting.

 

[roundabout]

My money is on Fuglsang, after Alaphilippe beats him on the line at the olympics

It's his kind of gradients and he is an excellent decender, with the stamina for a long race.

Descent won't matter. It's an excellent quality road, with perfect visibility and 1 corner where a rider has to brake.

 

[Koronin]

I question whether contenders for the world championships will do the Vuelta next year, except maybe solely as preparation for worlds.

I think Roglic proved the other day, that you cannot do the Vuelta full gas, and still be at your peak at worlds (we'll know more Sunday ).

Add to that, that next year a lot of these riders, will already have hit the 2nd (Ardennes being 1st) form peak mid season, because of the Olympics.

Though you may be right in the specific case of Valverde..... he's won worlds, and because of the mentioned dynamics, next year may be his best chance ever, to win a Vuelta, so he may prioritise differently.

With Valverde, you are also forgetting that la Vuelta is his favorite race (he's said this several times). He's also said the only way he won't race la Vuelta in a season is due to injury that won't allow him on the start line. Plus remember last year he raced la Vuelta for GC and won the Worlds.