2013 UCI World Championship ITT preview

The World Championships are back in Italy after five years. Last time the event came to Italy it was held in Varese and Bert Grabsch was the champion against the clock in the absence of Fabian Cancellara. In that era, Cancellara was the undisputed king of time trial but things have changed since then. Cancellara has lost some power and the likes of Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins have come to the fore.

Course

The profile of the 57.9km long course looks straightforward barring a short climb to Serravalle Pistoiese right at the beginning. It is meant to be blisteringly fast which will suit heavier time trialists who can generate enormous power over long durations. The map further indicates that the course is largely free of tight twists and turns and was designed with the fast rouleurs in mind.

The starting point, the Montecatini Terme district in the province of Pistoia, is famous for its spas. In the first section of the route, the race heads towards the Tuscan town of Pistoia following the A11 highway. When the route hits the town in the latter part of this section, we will see couple of tight corners but nothing too difficult to disturb the pace.

In the middle section, the race moves on to the SR66 going towards Florence. Along this road, we should be able to see the beautiful scenery of the Tuscan countryside. The riders will have no time to appreciate their surroundings though and will look to generate high watts over this long straight section. Crosswinds could also play a big role in this exposed section.

In the final section of the route, the riders will enter the city of Florence and will have to negotiate a few speed humps, cobbled patches and tight corners. Some time can be made up here with good bike-handling skills but most damage will be done in the middle section of the course and that is where power riders will come into picture.

The contenders

Fabian Cancellara won his first UCI World time trial championship as a junior in 1998 at Valkenburg. Over the years, he has displayed his talent against the clock by winning Grand Tour prologues, time trials and four rainbow jerseys. But things changed in 2011 when Tony Martin dethroned Cancellara and became the World time trial champion, taking his first of the two rainbow jerseys.

In 2011 Martin had already beaten Cancellara against the clock at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. He capped off a stellar season by repeating the feat at the World Championships held at Copenhagen where Fabian missed out on the silver medal after overshooting on a corner. But Cancellara is once again on the rise and has beaten Martin in the past few weeks, in the 38.8km time trial at the 2013 Vuelta a Espana.

Bradley Wiggins was second in the 2011 time trial World championship and will once again look to spoil the duel at Florence. Wiggins has had a patchy year after winning the Tour de France in 2012. He has recently won a short time trial stage at Tour of Britain (and the general classification) but it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to match it with Martin and Cancellara.

He won a gold medal in the discipline at the 2012 London Olympics by beating Martin but this year it will be very difficult for him to upstage either of Cancellara or Martin. Apparently, Wiggo has beefed up considerably over the last few months to increase his ITT chances at the Worlds.

Outsiders

Alex Dowsett surprised everyone when he won the 54.8km time trial stage at this year’s Giro d’Italia beating an out-of-sorts Wiggins by a margin of 10 seconds. Dowsett has also won the British national time trial for the last two years and will definitely give it a proper go at Florence against the big boys.

Taylor Phinney finished second in the 2012 World Championship behind Tony Martin but the young American has not been in similar form this year. He hasn’t raced as much and will be fresher than others at Florence. This and his growing belief make him a dark horse for the rainbow jersey.

Sylvain Chavanel is the French national time trial champion and also winner of a few time trials in smaller races throughout the season. He will be foregoing the road race for a full tilt at the time trial. Chava certainly doesn’t lack a fight and his devotion to this event surely makes him one to watch out for.

Richie Porte has always been a good time trialist. This year he won the individual time trial on the uphill Col d’Eze route at Paris-Nice. Another victory came in the prologue of Criterium International where he bettered the time set by the likes of Chris Froome and Tejay Van Garderen. He doesn’t normally fare as well over longer routes and it will be interesting to see how he performs at the Worlds.

Marco Pinotti is probably in his last season of road racing and the Italian time trial champion will like to go out with one last hurrah. His recent form has been hampered by injuries and is not expected to trouble the favorites. But Pinotti will look to perform on his home soil while wearing the tricolore.

Startlist

79. Herbert Mugwanya (UGA)
78. Gustavo Mino (PAR)
77. Nazir Jaser (SYR)
76. Tiago Machado (POR)
75. Jose Ragonessi (ECU)
74. Hyeongmin Choe (KOR)
73. Nikolay Mihaylov (BUL)
72. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ)
71. Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU)
70. Ahmed Elbourdainy (QAT)
69. Patrick Gretsch (GER)
68. Serghei Tvetcov (MDA)
67. Ioannis Tamouridis (GRE)
66. Aleksejs Saramotins (LAT)
65. Meron Russom (ERI)
64. Samuel Pokala (FIN)
63. Andrei Nechita (ROU)
62. Andriy Vasylyuk (UKR)
61. Uri Martins (MEX)
60. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (ESP)
59. Kristijan Koren (SLO)
58. Mykhaylo Kononenko (UKR)
57. Matej Jurco (SVK)
56. Gert Joeaar (EST)
55. Nelson Oliviera Simoes Santos (POR)
54. Reinardt Janse Van Renseburg (RSA)
53. Spas Gyurov (BUL)
52. Zhupa Eugert (ALB)
51. Jiyong Kang (KOR)
50. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS)
49. Maciej Bodnar (POL)
48. Sam Bewley (NZL)
47. Rogers Balikudembe (UGA)
46. Gediminas Bagdonas (LTU)
45. Elchin Asadov (AZE)
44. Cavaliere Albos (AND19840731)
43. Riccardo Zoidl (AUT)
42. Rafaa Chtioui (TUN)
41. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR)
40. Jay Thomson (RSA)
39. Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
38. Vladimir Gusev (RUS)
37. Segundo Navarrete (ECU)
36. Rohan Dennis (AUS)
35. Nicolas Roche (IRL)
34. Matthias Brandle (AUT)
33. Bert Grabsch (GER)
32. Leandro Messineo (ARG)
31. King Cheung (HKG)
30. Carlos Ivan Guinez Oyarzun (CHI)
29. Daniel Teklehaymanot (ERI)
28. Muradjan Halmuratov (UZB)
27. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ)
26. Alex Rasmussen (DEN)
25. Kristof Vandewalle (BEL)
24. Reto Hollenstein (SUI)
23. Rafael Abreu Infantino (COL)
22. Jeremy Roy (FRA)
21. Gustav Larsson (SWE)
20. Jan Barta (CZE)
19. Niki Terpstra (NED)
18. Bob Jungels (LUX)
17. Jesse Sergent (NZL)
16. Thomas De Gendt (BEL)
15. Lieuwe Westra (NED)
14. Alex Dowsett (GBR)
13. Rasmus Christian Quaade (DEN)
12. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL)
11. Andrew Talansky (USA)
10. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR)
9. Marco Pinotti (ITA)
8. Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (ESP)
7. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)
6. Richie Porte (AUS)
5. Adriano Malori (ITA)
4. Taylor Phinney (USA)
3. Bradley Wiggins (GBR)
2. Fabian Cancellara (SUI)
1. Tony Martin (GER)

Weather

Rain could play a key role in deciding the outcome of the time trial. Although most of the route lacks any tight twists and corners the final few kilometres are rather tricky and wet roads could be a factor in winning or losing. Currently, there’s no rain predicted and its supposed to be rather warm but it could all change quite dramatically on the day.

TV

The men’s individual time trial at the world championships will be broadcast tonight on Eurosport (Foxtel channel 511) from 7:15pm (AEST) and from 10:30pm on SBS2. SBS will also be streaming the event live on its website from 8:50pm (AEST).

Tim

Rohan Dennis to run top 5 and give the podium a nudge. Can ride. Can definitely TT.
- Luke Meers
  
  I concur. Expecting Dennis to surprise a few out there today.
  - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
    
    I think you’re right. I can’t see Dennis beating Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara, or Phinney, but after that, his chances for a top 5 are good.
    - http://subcontinentalcyclist.wordpress.com/ Ankush Agarwal
      
      I did think long and hard about putting Rohan Dennis as an outsider, I checked his season results and recollected his performance at ToA. But I think Chavanel will get the better of him as he has been scorching the time trials this season. Although, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
      - jules
        
        rule no. 1 of being a sports writer: always talk up the home team or competitor ;)
        
        seriously, Dennis is fast though
        
        http://subcontinentalcyclist.wordpress.com/ Ankush Agarwal
        
        Thanks Jules, I’m learning. I better re-write my road race preview :-)
Steel

I asked this question the other but forgot to check for answer and now can’t remember which day I made the post. So sorry if it’s already been answered.

Can anyone explain why reigning national TT champ, twin turbo durbo is not competing for this title? Is it an injury, or selection issue? I’d back him over Porte on this course any day.
- tim
  
  He was not selected. Was not injury. Said on twitter that he was ‘very disappointed’
- jules
  
  i haven’t heard much from Durbo lately. has he been racing? if OGE have been resting him, it would be easy to understand his non-selection.
  - rmba
    
    Durbo was in the OGE TTT two days ago and they were all in good form. He is more a powerhouse TTer than the 2 selected. It was a tough choice for selectors but I think Durbo should have been there.
    - Steel
      
      Thanks for the response gents. While it’s always difficult to comment on these things from the outside, the selections do not look right. He’s easily got the best TT results of any Aussies this year IMO. One hopes there isn’t some crony-ism going on with the selectors
      - Tim
        
        Dennis has better results and has bettered Durbridge in every head to head since Nationals. Top 10 Romandie, 3rd ToC and 2nd in Dauphine (behind Martin and ahead of Froome). If Durbrige was fit for selection, then he and Dennis would have been my picks.
- Dave
  
  Possible effort by the CA selectors to distance themselves from the rOGuE team a little. Never mind the rule about ProTeams and Professional Continental teams being separate organisations from the national federations, OGE is a little bit too embarrassing to be too closely linked with now after the fiasco of the Vance review.
900Aero

Do the TT riders have to come from the road race squad like the Olympics? Or am I having a McQuaid moment?