WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
ESTABLISHED 1927 EDITIONS 86
Every four years, the Worlds get overshadowed by the Olympic Games. Speculation has centred on who will ride Tokyo, who will be in form, which riders will thrive on the mountainous route and which build-up - to Tour or not to Tour? - will give one lucky rider a gold medal. On the women’s side, maybe the question is more, who is going to win the silver medal behind Annemiek van Vleuten?
However, there’s a similarly mountainous challenge for the riders of the Worlds, which takes place in Switzerland and is based at the home of the UCI in Aigle, with most of the finishes in Martigny. The road race routes take in the Côte de la Petite Forclaz, a 4km climb with an average gradient of 10.2 per cent and a summit at 909m. The men will tackle the climb seven times.
For historical reasons, along with an opaque race classification system that is typical of the sport, the Worlds is not considered a monument like Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, but fans and pundits often rank it just as high as these races, or at best just behind them, but ahead of any other oneday races. The riders who have thrived in the monuments have also made it their business to try and wear the rainbow jersey at least once in their career.
The first complication in 2020 is the route, which is comparatively hard for a Worlds circuit and will automatically put a lot of the bigger sprinters and classics specialists out of the picture. It’s not quite as hard as Innsbruck 2018, but the winner will certainly have to be able to climb. Secondly, the peaking process will be complicated. It’s going to be hard to target the Olympics and Worlds, because holding form will be difficult between the two races, but they’re too close for two separate peaks, even though they suit exactly the same kind of rider. Aptly for a race in Switzerland, the winner will have to be a master of timing.