Time-trial World Championships down under
It’s the first time the UCI Road World Championships have left European soil in seven years, and the timing is great for the Australian hosts. The competition will be held over
the course of five days in Geelong, Australia, from 29 September to 3 October.
The World Time-Trial Champion title will be contested in the first two days of the competition, with the Under-23 men and Elite women competing on Wednesday (29 September) and the
Elite men competing on Thursday. Defending champion Fabian Cancellara is a clear favourite for the title, but has himself tipped his Saxo Bank teammate Richie Porte as his biggest concern.
“He surprised the team and the cycling world with a super-great performance in the Giro d'Italia, and also the rest of the season,” said the Swiss defending champion to the
Sydney Morning Herald. “For me, for a first year as a professional, it has been a great season, and [Porte] will have a huge future.”
The 25-year-old Tasmanian Porte was the best young rider at the Giro d’Italia earlier in the season, the first Grand Tour of his career. He proved himself among the world’s best time-trialists when he
beat the likes of Michael Rogers and Gustav-Erik Larsson in the time-trial stage of the Tour of Romandie.
“I've looked at the climbs and I've spoken with Neil Stephens; he's been awesome for me. I'm just going to have to use those hills to my advantage,” said Porte. “If the weather stays crappy like this I
won't mind. Most of the Europeans are a bit jetlagged and I think that's also going to be a pretty big factor in it."
Two short but steep climbs on the 45.6km time-trial course, no more than 120m high, hardly makes it a climbers course but will definitely keep back the pure sprinters. German Tony Martin described it as
a power course, “really challenging, if not technically.” This is good news for a time-trial specialist like Cancellara, who is going for a record-breaking fourth world champion title.
“I don’t think that a pure climber will win here, the climbs are too short,” explained Martin. “[And] I think it will be difficult for the pure sprinters,” he said, “even if I know that André Greipel is
going well on the climbs. The route will be much more suited to the classics specialists like Paul Martens.”
The Elite women’s time-trial is up for grabs with last year’s winner, American Kristin Armstrong, now retired. Australian women have been making their mark all over the world this season, with Vicki Whitelaw
the local favourite for the event. Her biggest competitor will be German Charlotte Becker.
Whitelaw will be joined by two countrywomen in the Elite women’s time-trial, Alexis Rhodes and Shara Gillow. National team coach Shayne Bannan has said they’re all going for the top-10. Two local riders
will also compete in the Under-23 men’s competition, Luke Durbridge and Rohan Dennis.
"If you look at what they have achieved this year, both have performed well in the time-trial in the Tour of Holland and at the national championships earlier in the year," said Bannan. "So you would have
to say both are medal chances, certainly top five."
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