World Championships Bath, United Kingdom
In 2019, for the first time since Goodwood 1982, the world championships of cycling will return to the UK. The UK obviously isn't a traditional cycling nation by any stretch of the imagination, but the sport is reaching heady heights and becoming ever more popular. The choice of start town has been fairly disappointing personally and appears to be a homage to the UK's most consistently excellent cyclist this century rather than a decision based on optimisng the race. This is a WC in the UK, but at the opposite end, down south. I have designed and published one or two stage finishes in Bath on this forum, and last year of course the Tour of Britain had a stage finish here. However, it was the most frustrating finish ever considering the terrain around Bath. An flat run-in and a 300m drag to the line wasn't what I was hoping for. This is a very hilly set of races from the ITTs to the road races. I have tried to make races explore both the areas south and north of Bath and three of the races (both the TTTs and the Elite Men's race) will have a start in Bristol and explore Somerset, and some parts of West Wiltshire, before taking on the hilly city circuit.
Background and history
Some quick background of Bath. If you don't want to read this you can scroll down to the beginning of the races.
Bath is city famed around the world for its architecture and landscape, and this helps the city attract 3.8 million day tourists every year, more than 42 times the population of the city itself. The architecture is almost exclusively Georgian, apart from some more Victorian style factory structures on the south bank of the River Avon, and even the more modern developments are built in a way which is suppose to fit in with the rest of the city. It never actually does, but that's beside the point. It is obviously famed for its Roman baths and hot water springs, which are unique on British Isles. This unsurprisingly made it a location for tourists from a very early time as Romans in Britain, who might've wanted to relax, could only do so here. Therefore, it took the name Aquae Sulis Following the collapse of roman Britain, these baths were lost until the two John Woods (elder and younger) rebuilt them in the 18th Century. There's also a large abbey, where the TTs will start, and the famous
Royal Crescent and Circle. Notably, it was the home of Jane Austen for many years. Important to note she absolutely despised the city.
Bath is often said by its citizens to be surrounded by seven hills like Rome. I am almost completely certain this is not the case, but it's nice to pretend it is. Every single race will finish on Great Pulteney Street going towards the Holbourne museum. Great Pulteney Street is a picturesque,wide and very grand Georgian street, perfect for a finish like this - think of it like an english Avenue du Gramond (ok, hyperbolic). It should be a safe finish as I very much doubt any race will finish in a bunch sprint. If it were to be a bunch sprint (40+ people), then it could get slightly sketchy, but not quite Alberobello sketchy. Anway, I'll start with the races.
Sunday - Men and Women's TTTs 35.1km
My initial plan for this was a very fast and flat dash from Bristol to Bath, forgetting that the distance would only be 20km. It is still a fairly short TTT (the only shorter than normal race elite race this weekend) but I managed to put in a 15km detour south of the normal road. The road used is a fairly wide "A" road, so shouldn't provide any problems for the riders and isn't particularly technical for the most part. The opening 3km in Bristol could create a few nerves, as could the final 2km in Bath, but apart from that nothing.
Bristol
It is fairly rolling at times and amasses over 300m of climbing over the 35km, so won't be stupidly fast and would be perfect for the likes of Dumoulin to pull their teams. Obviously I don't think Sunweb will challenge for this, and it will be between the usual suspects: BMC, Etixx, Orica etc. The course is the same for both men's teams and women's teams.
Monday - Junior Women ITT (13.2km) and U-23 Men's ITT (27.6km)
Junior Women
Short race for the junior women, only 13km which is a tiny bit shorter than normal. Once again, it isn't completely flat and has about 100m of climbing, but none of it should be of any issue. It's in a pretty part of residential Bath, so it's a good opportunity to show off the city. There are a couple of technical moments but it isn't too bad for the most part, once again these technical moments come at the beginning and near the end with the short descent.
Under 23 Men
Once again, the race is slightly shorter (3 or 4km) than perhaps is normal, but is very tough. It has the same beginning 2km of the junior women, but this one then swings to the north of Bath. The south is showcased during the road race. The first climb is one up
Lansdown Hill, which will feature prominently in the week, albeit mostly from a different side. It's pretty damn steep, with a 500m at 13%, which will make the TT more climber friendly than at first one might assume. A long plateau in a very windy area soon follows, with nice veiws over the city. This section, if it is as windy as it normally is in late September, is the perfect antidote to the difficult hill that has just passed. Most good climbers will struggle here where a lot of power will be needed to keep a good pace.
A descent takes the riders to Wick where the road joins up with the men's elite parcours. There is a small hill (about 1km at just over 5%, with a section over 8%) which could help the lighter riders. After passing the checkpoint at Nimlet, the riders for the next 7km will be subjected to one of thos classic British single-track lanes. The road is fairly twisty and ever so slightly downhill, and it could neutralise some of the gaps which the specialists will be used to creating on this terrain. The road takes them past the haunting
St Catherine's Court, owned by the actress Jane Seymour (bought for a meagre £350,000 - ok, 3 million was later spent on renovation) and where radiohead recorded most of their legendary OK Computer album. The twisty road continues until the riders reach the 4km to go sign, and from there it is a 3.5km very flat and very straight and pretty wide journey, until a sharp left, right and left in the last 500m takes them to Great Pulteney Street, and the finish.
Tuesday - Junior Men ITT (27.6km) and Elite Women ITT (27.6)
Both same as the second race above, the Under 23 men's parcours. I'm following a structure similar to the Richmond WCs for the TTs.
Wednesday - Elite Mens ITT (63.8km)
A proper length ITT. It would be the longest ever in world championship history, although if we include all those years when the Chrono des Nations was the unofficial world championships then it doesn't come close to the top. This is a bit of a juxtaposition to the Bergen TT, which divided some on this forum. It is also pretty damn hilly, as you can see from the profile, with over 700m of climbing. It would be one of the longest ITTs this century at a WT/protour level or above, and it could be up to 90 minutes in the saddle. It is a proper test.
The ITT starts in the same place as all the others so far, in the square in front of the Bath Abbey and next to the Roman Baths. The beginning route is the same as the others too, expect this time it goes much deeper into eastern somerset and almost reaches Bristol. It continuously rises and falls from the right hand turn at Swineford after 8 or 9km until the first time check at Nimlet, in the same location as the Women's, Under 23 and Junior Men's time checks. The same road is followed until St. Catherine's Court, before the riders take a sharp left and continue on the spectacularly narrow and quintissentially British
road into a short uphill in a very pretty forest near Marshfield, the home of the ice cream (useless reference for any who don't live in the UK). The road then becomes wider and more of a normal single track, which in reality can hold two cars without much trouble.
It continues up Box Hill and into West Wiltshire before reaching the town of
Corsham, where a part of Poldark was filmed. The road here becomes gently downhill, and then reaches the second time check in Lacock, a very picturesque little village, well-liked among tourists for its charming
abbey, in which Harry Potter was
filmed. Unsurprisingly, if you look at the picture above, Pride and Prejudice was also filmed here, along with many other period dramas. The road continues through the countryside and past some fields of wheat, and is fairly rolling until reaching the windy plateau at Kingsdown, just before the short descent to the flat ending of the TT. The descent initally is pretty dark as its in a forest, and because of the sudden change of light you experience could prove tricky for some initially. There is 1km on a bypass before the same ending as the previous races, going on London Road before turning to get to Great Pulteney Street. If you ask me, it has Dumoulin written all over it. I doubt nybody could challenge him on such a course, perhaps peak Fabian or Roglic if he dramatically improves. Possibly one for Kiry of 2015 as well.
Start location (it's doable, don't worry)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram