The final circuit of the men’s road race course at the Glasgow 2023 Worlds. UCI
The route of the men’s road race for the 2023 Worlds, 271 kilometers between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in Scotland, caused a lot of talk before the start of the event, Sunday August 6 at 10:30 a.m. (Paris time).
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After 128 rather classic kilometres, the race is likely to be decided on a 14.3 kilometer circuit in Glasgow, to be covered ten times. This one, all in climbs, descents and curves, is a vertiginous turnstile, with 48 bends per lap, or 480 in total, on a granular asphalt, riddled with hastily filled potholes. With so many turns, the raises will be decisive.
If the Montrose Street bump (200 meters at 14%), which is part of the circuit, is too short to be really selective, “The accumulation of efforts will make the final very difficult”estimates the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, who expects “a very hard race, wear and tear”.
The course of the race on Sunday is so atypical and surprising that it has given rise to a number of comments, whether amused or annoyed, by the riders and the coaches.
The plotter “had to be stuffed”
“For a Formula 1 Grand Prix it’s fantastic, but for a cycle race it’s not my favorite. The guy who drew this may have been hanging out at the pub too long”believes the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, outgoing world champion.
Profile of the men’s road race at the Glasgow 2023 Worlds. UCI
In the same vein, the French puncher Benoît Cosnefroy believes that the plotter “must have been stuffed”. “Even if the course corresponds to my qualities, it is not worthy of a World Championship. It’s made for a criterium at best”he adds.
Tricolor sprinter Bryan Coquard finds inspiration elsewhere to explain the sensations that await runners: “You shouldn’t be sick on the rides. By dint of turning, we will want to vomit on arrival »he laughs.
More soberly, Thomas Voeckler, the coach of the Blues, believes that “this circuit is unlike any other”. “You can lose your mind, literally and figuratively”he warns.
In the columns of Evening, the former Belgian world champion Philippe Gilbert thinks that the riders “cyclo-cross specialists will be the favourites, [car] they take the turns faster than the others. They have a natural drive that saves them a second here, a second there. » Among them are Mathieu Van der Poel and the Belgian Wout van Aert, eight world champion titles in the undergrowth between them.
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