Ten hills and more than 4200 vertical meters for one of the season’s hardest races.
Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Remco Evenepoel, James Knox, Mikel Landa – riders who between them have won a dozen races this year – will take on the World Championships in Zurich in just a couple of days. Switzerland hosts the event for the first time since 2009, and two of our riders have already won medals there: Remco took his second rainbow jersey in the ITT last Sunday, while Mattia Cattaneo – who raced earlier this week – time trialled to bronze together with Italy’s mixed relay team.
The 273.9km course is one of the hardest seen at the Worlds this century, a total of ten significant climbs peppering the route between Winterthur and Zurich. From the top of the last ascent, only a couple of kilometers remain until the finish, making it the perfect terrain for an attack that could go all the way.
“It’s a very hard course. The start isn’t easy and the peloton will tackle a hard ascent on the approach to Zurich before that challenging circuit that they will cover seven times. The climb there is followed by some up-and-down roads before a descent towards the lake. The route is difficult to control and gives opportunities for some late attacks. It’s a very attractive climb with a tricky final part, and it will be interesting to see how things will go there, because some teams will try to control, while others will be keen to go on the attack”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Tom Steels.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
Julian Alaphilippe 
Kasper Asgreen 
James Knox 
Remco Evenepoel 
Mikel Landa 