Cycling: After his performance at the Tour de France, Wout van Aert is the favorite in the men's road world championships. Can the Belgian actually don the rainbow jersey at Imola?
Road World Championship: A course for the puncheur?
With start and finish on the race track in Imola, the circuit is the Weltmeisterschaft 28,8 kilometers long. It has to be ridden a total of nine times, so that the pros ultimately have to master a whopping 258,0 kilometers and around 5.000 meters in altitude. The Mazzolano ascent (2,8 km á 5,9%) and the Cima Gallisterna (2,7 km á 6,4%) will bring the (preliminary) decision. After the last crossing, it goes downhill again before the winner can start the triumph drive on the Imola racetrack - should he arrive as a soloist.
German starters
Without Emanuel Buchmann and without Lennard Kämna, the BDR contests the World Cup in Imola. Due to the demanding Tour de France, both professionals have decided against starting. Nevertheless, the Germans have a trump card up their sleeve. Maximilian Schachmann should be able to keep up with the best on the climbs. Simon Geschke is a man for the breakaway. John Degenkolb could surprise if the race wasn't too hard.
57) Nikias Arndt
58) John Degenkolb
59) Nico Denz
60) Simon Geschke
61) Jonas Koch
62) Paul Martens
63) Maximilian Schachman
64) George Zimmerman
Starters from Switzerland
And Switzerland can also have legitimate hopes of a medal in Imola. With Marc Hirschi, the Confederates probably have THE discovery of the Tour de France in their ranks. If he has recovered well from the three-week hardship in France, we must have him on the bill.
112) Michael Albasini
113) Sylvan Dillier
114) Enrico Gasparotto
115) Marc Hirschi
116) Simon Pellaud
117) Michael Schar
Austria's starter
The Austrians will probably not intervene in the fight for the medals at the Road World Championships. With Gergor Mühlberger, Patrick Konrad and Michael Gogl, the three strongest professionals from the Alpine republic are missing. Therefore, you will have to present yourself in groups and hope for a miracle so that the favorites gamble away.
134) Tobias Bayer
135) Marco Frederick
136) Felix Gall
137) Sebastian Schoenberger
138) Markus Wildauer
139) Riccardo Zoidl
Velomotion Prognosis: A strong puncher will come through
The weather forecast for tomorrow should only please a few: rain and a maximum of 15 °C. This reduces the chances of victory for the narrowly built mountain bikers from warmer climes. And they rise for the long-suffering classic specialists. Such is undoubtedly Wout van Aert. The Belgian also showed at the Tour de France that he gets stronger going uphill. He can sprint anyway. And yesterday he became Vice World Champion in the time trial. So actually we can award the gold medal to him – actually! Because even if his team with Jasper Stuyven, Tim Wellens, Oliver Naesen, Greg Van Avermaet and Tiesj Benoot is made for such a day, there should be a lot of work waiting for them all. Because: We're not the only ones who know that Wout van Aert is going into this World Championship race as the clear favourite. The competition knows that too!
And so we will not rely on Wout van Aert with our Velomotion tip. A logical course of the race would be for a leading group to form right after the start. This is mainly kept under control by the Belgian national team. At the latest when it comes to the penultimate lap, there will be a hail of attacks from strong drivers uphill. someone like Michael Woods, Vincenzo Nibali or Rui Costa could make an early move. The goal: Wout van Aert's helpers have to go! And this project will also succeed. Because no matter how strong the Belgian team is, the top punchers won't be able to keep them at bay.
When it's the last time up the Mazzolano climb and the Cima Gallisterna, the attacks have to be spot on. Wout van Aert will no longer have any helpers at his side and will not be able to call every attack himself. If one, two or three professionals break away, the Belgian has to work alone in the chasing group. Because nobody wants to end up on the home straight in Imola with him. The only question is: Who can pull off such a thing? We bet on the Swiss Marc Hirschi! He's proved that he's difficult to distance uphill if the climbs aren't too long. Also, he can outperform quite a lot of riders in the sprint. And he races downhill like no other. He sits down on the final climb together with Julian Alaphilippe off, the duo can no longer be caught anyway.
☆☆☆ Marc Hirschi
* * Julian Alaphilippe, Tadej Pogacar
* Wout van Aert, Michal Kwiatkowski, Maximilian Schachmann