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2024 Zurich WC routes revealed

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Anything other than this was always going to be a disappointment.
profile.jpg
 
Forch-Pfannenstiel-Wetzwil was great (with 1 exception when Flecha won in a large-ish sprint), but that was a 40 something km lap - way too long for the worlds.

And what's the point in using multiple colors for a profile and not providing a legend what those colors mean?
 
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The RR route has Remco written all over it, unless he struggles to build up suffient form after peaking for the Tour for the first time. The two climbs come in quick succession and are followed by several kilometers of undulating terrain, where he can obliterate any chase there' ll be or drop those few who have survived the climbs with him.
 
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The RR route has Remco written all over it, unless he struggles to build up suffient form after peaking for the Tour for the first time. The two climbs come in quick succession and are followed by several kilometers of undulating terrain, where he can obliterate any chase there' ll be or drop those few who have survived the climbs with him.
If Pogacar is there and in form, Remco will have a hard time to escape from him.
 
If Pogacar is there and in form, Remco will have a hard time to escape from him.
That's true, but it is quite likely that neither of them will be at their best because of main peak centering around Tour and Olympics. Pog has usually reached his late season peak by early to mid October and has been relatively underwhelming at Worlds held in their usual September slot. For Remco it'll be the first time to do a Tour-centric season, so we just don't know how well and quickly he'll be able to build a secondary peak for the late season races.
 
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That's true, but it is quite likely that neither of them will be at their best because of main peak centering around Tour and Olympics. Pog has usually reached his late season peak by early to mid October and has been relatively underwhelming at Worlds held in their usual September slot. For Remco it'll be the first time to do a Tour-centric season, so we just don't know how well and quickly he'll be able to build a secondary peak for the late season races.

I don't think it will be that hard for Pogačar to be competitive on this circuit, last year he was underwhelming at the Worlds but was good enough to win GP Montreal over Van Aert two weeks before. In 2021, I don't think he had many hopes ahead of the race anyway, he peaked for Lombardia instead.

As for Remco, its a bit of an unknown how strong he is going to be in the Worlds if he peaks for the Tour + Olympics but at least in the time-trial with such a hard course he should be the favourite and in the road race he is always dangerous as long as the course is not too technical.

Still, I favour Van Aert over those two for the road race but he will need to be sharper than his usual self at these big races.
 
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I think people are underestimating the route, which to me is definitely for the Ardennes specialists and punchy climbers.

The Witikon climb profile is here (can't get the media upload to work):

Evenepoel will certainly be the big favourite, with Van Aert, Benoot and Van Gils as his primary support, but Slovenia being able to start Pogacar, Roglic and Mohoric on that route is going to be a tough nut to crack.

Other candidates:

Denmark: Vingegaard, Skjelmose, Kron.
France: Alaphilippe, Bardet, Madouas, Martin.
GB: Pidcock, Yates, Yates, Hart.
Spain: Bilbao, Izagirre, Izagirre, Mas, Rodriguez.
Netherlands: Mollema, Poels, Arensman, Kelderman, MvdP.
Italy: Ciccone, Caruso, Ulissi, Rota.
Australia: Hindley, O'Connor, Vine, Matthews,
Colombia: Chavez, Buitrago, Rubio, Higuita.
USA: Kuss, Jorgenson, Powless, McNulty, Sheffield.
Portugal: Almeida, Costa, Guerreiro, Oliveira.
Switzerland: Schmid, Hirchi.
Germany: Zimmermann, Kämna, Buchmann, Schachmann.
Norway: Johannessen, Johannessen.
Ireland: Healy.
Austria: Gall, Konrad.
Canada: Woods, Gee, Houle.
Eritrea: Girmay.
New Zealand: Strong, Bennett.
Latvia: Neilands, Skujins.
Kazakhstan: Lutsenko.
Poland: Kwiatkowski, Majka.
Ecuador: Carapaz, Narvaez.
 
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When I read that that there's a climb of 1,2 km @ 12% I was almost euphoric, until I found out it comes after 50 km and only once. However there are two more climbs in the local lap: one short and steep, the other longer and gentle. That's enough for a climber to make the difference. It's not for punchy climbers though, because it's 20 km from the final climb to the finish.

So it has to be a climber who can handle a long solo (Pogacar, Evenepoel) or someone who can hang on to win a tactical final (Van Aert, Pidcock). Hirschi will be motivated before his home crowd. For MvdP this might be a little too much climbing, and he'll probably focus on the Olympics, but you can't rule him out.