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2020 World Championships - now confirmed for Imola, Italy.

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ForclazImola2020.png


ProfilImola.png
 
Why would they have to ride the circuit clockwise? I haven't seen any route map yet.
The only thing that maybe could speak for it is the order of the passing of the two steep hills mentioned in this thread.
It went well in Giro 2015 Forlì - Imola stage to leave at Variante Alta passing Tre Monti and entering the track again at Rivazza some 800m before the (racing) finish line.
If they should do Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari a bit exciting for a finish, ofcourse they could deside an uphill sprint between Tosa and Piratella or from Acque Minerale to Variante Alta, since it's very possible that a small selected group of climbers will enter the finish. But I think it's quite unlikely, and the organizers have decided for the common autodrome finish.


OK, so maybe answering myself. Just plottet the route at earth.google.com with all names info in profile graph (quite easy in fact) - a very technical and beautyfull route indeed!
Only uncertaincy is how and where to enter the race track. But something could speak for a clockwise direction, entering at Curva Piratella, downhill to Tosa and from there to the finish straight in opposite direction of normal motor racing at the track.
I.e. the race track will be all all easy downhill before Tosa and from there 1.4k all flat finish.
Hope organizers have chosen a more intelligent approach than that, cause what a waste of a fine and mythical race track.
 
OK, so maybe answering myself. Just plottet the route at earth.google.com with all names info in profile graph (quite easy in fact) - a very technical and beautyfull route indeed!
Only uncertaincy is how and where to enter the race track. But something could speak for a clockwise direction, entering at Curva Piratella, downhill to Tosa and from there to the finish straight in opposite direction of normal motor racing at the track.
I.e. the race track will be all all easy downhill before Tosa and from there 1.4k all flat finish.
Hope organizers have chosen a more intelligent approach than that, cause what a waste of a fine and mythical race track.


I hope so as well, but I wouldn't put anything past them. Tour of California had finishes at Laguna Seca race track and didn't use much of it. I hope more of the Imola track is used.
 
Interesting comparison. Though it's worth mentioning the Martigny lap was a lot shorter and therefore the new route is probably easier. Then again they only had 7 laps with the Petite Forclaz while there will be 9 laps in Imola, so what do I know.
Anyway, I'm happy. Aside from the difficulty aspect I was never a huge fan of the Martigny route anyway. It would have been brutally hard but I'm not sure whether it would have encouraged good racing. It very well might have just come down to who is strongest on the final ascent and not much happening beforehand. The new route really is how a WC route is supposed to be. It favors a certain type of rider, in this case climbers, while not being suited exclusively to that type and with the finish not being all that close to the final climb it encourages tactical shenanigans.
 
Interesting comparison. Though it's worth mentioning the Martigny lap was a lot shorter and therefore the new route is probably easier. Then again they only had 7 laps with the Petite Forclaz while there will be 9 laps in Imola, so what do I know.
Anyway, I'm happy. Aside from the difficulty aspect I was never a huge fan of the Martigny route anyway. It would have been brutally hard but I'm not sure whether it would have encouraged good racing. It very well might have just come down to who is strongest on the final ascent and not much happening beforehand. The new route really is how a WC route is supposed to be. It favors a certain type of rider, in this case climbers, while not being suited exclusively to that type and with the finish not being all that close to the final climb it encourages tactical shenanigans.

I guess it depends a bit on how many teams would like to have a hard race to get to get rid of the puncheurs, or how many teams are confident with a puncheur as teamcaptain trying something only in the last lap.

The good thing about a long circuit is that if they only start racing 2 laps before the end, it's still 50k to the finish.
 
Climbs at least one kilometer too short, the last one too far away from the finish. Meh.

There is plenty of up and down after the last climb, and it is a very long race.

Remember last year at LBL, Fuglsang didn't manage to drop Formola and Woods on the last categorised climb, but still dropped them one after the other on small uncategorized climbs after.

It's Corona season, and I think we may very well see people come in 1 and 1, like at Il Lombardia.
 
It's certainly not for the pure climbers, but for specialists of the climbing classics. Alaphilippe is top favorite. He doesn't need to drop the other climbers, because he can beat them in a sprint. Fuglsang, Vlasov, Formolo, Ulissi, Pogacar, Van Aert, Valverde and the Yates brothers could also do well.

I hope they will still do that course in Switzerland one of the next years.
 
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Well plotting the route in yesterday at earth.google.com.
(The public road part I'm pretty sure of, just a bit uncertain where to enter the race track, could be at Curva Piratella or Variante Alta, but seems it will be clockwise direction and thus leaving at Rivazza)
It says me, that the challenge might be the very twisty, small roads first of all and then ofcourse the two small steep climbs.
Not like Martigny where climb of Petite Forclaz and descent is on main alp transportation routes.
This will spread the peleton all over, even with 50% gas. Could be interesting. Even with dry roads I expect some crashes. Definately a course for the technically experts.
 
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If I'm Cassani I'm bringing Nibali, Formolo, Ciccone, Caruso, Conti, De Marchi, Bagioli (as a learning experience) and the last spot is up for debate. If Pozzovivo rides himself into shape and recovers from his injuries he could be on the team, Moscon has shown that he's always able to be great at the WC when Cassani needs him, but his form is a question mark, Cataldo could be a solid workhorse and Visconti also needs to show something in the next few races. I wouldn't bring Ulissi, but that's just me, I don't trust him after a long, hard race.
I'm 99% sure these 4 will be in, barring injuries:
Formolo
Nibali
Caruso
De Marchi

Then I'd take Bettiol, Ciccone and Ulissi (yeah I know, but he was a team player during the EC).
Last spot would be a coin toss between Bagioli and Moscon for me.
 
(Edited after Kragh & Mads Pedersen dropped out)

Expected selection for the Danish team (8 because Mads Pedersen is not starting):

Fuglsang (Astana)
Vingegaard (Jumbo)
Eg (Trek)
Hansen (Cofidis)
Valgren (NTT)
Asgreen (DQ)
Juul (Mitchelton)
Honore (DQ)

Reserve will probably be Gregaard (Astana).
 
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First of all, its a real shame that young riders won't compete in these World Championships.

Regarding the road race course, I quite like it, actually I prefer it when compared with the Swiss one because we just had a course for climbers two years ago in Innsbruck and we will have a mountainous one in the Olympics next season.

However the climbers still have a good shot at these Worlds, especially the more explosive one since this course kind of reminds me of a harder LBL, so people like Fuglsang or Formolo need to be among the favourites just like Valverde if he gets his best legs back.

Still, unlike the course in Switzerland this one still gives a chance to more puncheur type riders. Alaphillippe has a bigger chance of winning here than in Switzerland because these 5/7 minutes efforts are much better for him so he ihas to be a favourite. As for heavier classics riders like MVDP or WVA, I think it will likely become too hard but they still have a chance especially Van Aert if he keeps his amazing shape and if he decides to drop the TT on Friday, something that could prove unwise because I think that he has a real chance of medal there behind Dennis.

Speaking of which, its kind of shameful to have a 40min TT to decide the World Champion but it is what it is...
 
First of all, its a real shame that young riders won't compete in these World Championships.

Regarding the road race course, I quite like it, actually I prefer it when compared with the Swiss one because we just had a course for climbers two years ago in Innsbruck and we will have a mountainous one in the Olympics next season.

However the climbers still have a good shot at these Worlds, especially the more explosive one since this course kind of reminds me of a harder LBL, so people like Fuglsang or Formolo need to be among the favourites just like Valverde if he gets his best legs back.

Still, unlike the course in Switzerland this one still gives a chance to more puncheur type riders. Alaphillippe has a bigger chance of winning here than in Switzerland because these 5/7 minutes efforts are much better for him so he ihas to be a favourite. As for heavier classics riders like MVDP or WVA, I think it will likely become too hard but they still have a chance especially Van Aert if he keeps his amazing shape and if he decides to drop the TT on Friday, something that could prove unwise because I think that he has a real chance of medal there.

Speaking of which, its kind of shameful to have a 40min TT to decide the World Champion but it is what it is...
Only applies to riders with a Y-chromosome, however, so this is the last chance for several years for some women.
 
Climbs at least one kilometer too short, the last one too far away from the finish. Meh.
It's closer to the finish than the Paterberg, Hem, or Roche-Aux-Faucons. It'll be plenty selective before that. I wouldn't want to see another Innsbruck, that was just a massive overreaction to a sprinter winning 3 in a row.

Speaking of which, its kind of shameful to have a 40min TT to decide the World Champion but it is what it is...
Absolutely. <45km are you even starting to get a sweat on at that stage?
 

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