2024 Zurich WC routes revealed

[Zoetemelk-fan]

He had to abandon after bumping/hurting his knee on Ballerini's team car.

Thanks for sharing details - must confess this is beyond my memory, though remembering several details, visiting those very streets of Athens via work related trips just a few years before Athens 2004.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Looks like a very classic WC circuit. No complaints at all from me, that's for sure. Open enough that all the best one day riders in the world can contest and thats basically all that I want.

 

[Netserk]

This time I will expect Vingegaard to ride, especially if he doesn't participate in Paris.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Anything other than this was always going to be a disappointment.

 

[roundabout]

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?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Anything other than this was always going to be a disappointment.

This race was part of the world cup right? The good old days

 

[Põhja Konn]

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.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Tao

 

[QueenStagiaire]

This is actually the longest distance WC since Prague 1981, the longest since 1990 was Madrid 2005 at 273 km according to PCS.

 

[Bolder]

Would like to see Roglic and vingegaard race this. Olympics should not be a factor as this is 2 months later, correct?

Am I silly for thinking 280 km is too long? I'm becoming a fan of shorter races.

 

[Berniece]

Would like to see Roglic and vingegaard race this. Olympics should not be a factor as this is 2 months later, correct?

Am I silly for thinking 280 km is too long? I'm becoming a fan of shorter races.

I like short stages in GT’s, but in case of 1-day races I prefer longer stages otherwise there are too many contestants

 

[OlavEH]

Am I silly for thinking 280 km is too long? I'm becoming a fan of shorter races.

This years Worlds really showed that longer races has its purpose!

 

[Blanco]

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.

 

[gavia88]

Anything other than this was always going to be a disappointment.

Do you somewhere have a profile of the race with the old circuit, the one that finished on the track?

 

[Põhja Konn]

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.

 

[KZD]

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.

 

[fbjim]

This is actually the longest distance WC since Prague 1981, the longest since 1990 was Madrid 2005 at 273 km according to PCS.

Until the reroute, Yorkshire 2019 was actually scheduled for nearly 300km including the rollout. I think about 15km was cut due to flooding,

 

[Boehmand]

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):

UCI Road World Championships Men Elite 2024

Route of UCI Road World Championships tracked with La Flamme Rouge editor. Winterthur > Zurich: 276.44 Km - Medium Mountain

www.la-flamme-rouge.eu

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.

 

[gavia88]

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Do you somewhere have a profile of the race with the old circuit, the one that finished on the track?

Of course she has. There are no two hills on the planet withing 100km of each other that she doesn't have half a dozen different ways of linking up, and travelling to and the nearest town for the start and finish.

 

[gavia88]

Of course she has. There are no two hills on the planet withing 100km of each other that she doesn't have half a dozen different ways of linking up, and travelling to and the nearest town for the start and finish.

I'm disappointed Libertine is taking so long to find the profile

 

[Pantani_lives]

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.

 

[Peyroteo94]

This screams Pogi all the way. Don't know if Remco can follow him in 11% slopes.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Main attack probably doesn't drop there at all. Plus I rate Evenepoel significantly better as a rouleur.

Could be a small group finish (maybe only Pog + Remco).

 

[AmRacer]

Main attack probably doesn't drop there at all. Plus I rate Evenepoel significantly better as a rouleur.

Tadej and Mathieu are the best, but this route is too heavy for Mathieu.