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The world's come to Madrid

Published: Sep. 20, 2005

It’s not often the world championships are held in a bustling city of 5 million inhabitants, but that’s just the setting for the 2005 world road cycling championships which open Tuesday evening with an official celebration.

Whether the Madrileños will be cursing the numerous traffic closures in the heart of this very Spanish capital remains to be seen, but a very urban flavor will be one of the hallmarks of the 2005 road world’s.

Racing kicks off Wednesday with the women’s and U-23 time trials and concludes Sunday with the elite men’s road race. In between there should be plenty of fireworks with the potentially dramatic UCI elections set for Friday.

Sprinter’s paradise
The undulating 21km circuit course through the heart of downtown Madrid is being universally hailed as a route tailor-made for sprinters.

The course starts on and ends on the Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid’s answer to Broadway. The finish line is right in front of Real Madrid’s Bernabéu soccer stadium and thousands of fans are expected to line the course.

The main features of the course are its relatively wide-open streets, tight corners laden with such obstacles as water drains, traffic circles, speed bumps, pedestrian crossings and other urban hazards. Its urban flavor and two short, overlooked climbs should make for an interesting race that won’t necessarily end in a sprint.

“This course reminds me a lot of the Olympic course last year in Athens,” Robbie McEwen told VeloNews. “Everyone said that was going to be a sprint and look what happened. I still think this will be a sprint, but I can’t imagine more than 50 racers finishing in the front group. It’s going to be hard.”

Two climbs – the first at 8.1km and the second at 14.8km – promise to liven up the race. With the major teams only being allowed nine starters this year compared to 12 (or 13, in the case of the defending champion) will also help to make the race harder to control.

Despite its long distance (273km for the elite men; 168km for U-23; 126km for women) and its overlooked hilly profile, most agree the racing should conclude with a sprint finale.

“Though it is harder than Zolder, I am convinced it will conclude in a mass sprint,” Italian veteran Giovanni Lombardi told VeloNews (see link). “It’s a world’s for a sprinter who knows how to win a classic. Riders like Zabel, Petacchi, Boonen, riders who have proven they can win a sprint after a long-distance race.”

And sprinters have shown up en masse in Madrid for the men’s race, headlined by odd’s-maker’s favorites Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi, Australia’s Robbie McEwen and Belgium’s Tom Boonen.

Just below this leading trio are Germany’s Erik Zabel, USA’s Fred Rodriguez, Holland’s Max Van Heeswijk, Norway’s Thor Hushovd, Italy’s Paolo Bettini and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde.

“Everyone is calling me the favorite,” said Petacchi during the Vuelta a España, where he dominated with five sprint victories. “McEwen could give us the most trouble. We haven’t seen him at this Vuelta, but I am sure he will be ready.”

Boonen pulled out of the Vuelta after two weeks without winning a stage, but called his Spanish adventure little more than a training camp to get ready for Madrid.

“It’s okay that the others are ahead of me here. It doesn’t worry me. I really didn’t try in this Vuelta,” Boonen said before his Vuelta departure. “I only came to the Vuelta to recuperate my fitness and I leave here at about 80 percent fitness. If I was here at top fitness I might not have reached the peak at the world’s. At Madrid, I want to be 110 percent fitness and I didn’t want to peak too early.”

Boonen was more keen on overcoming a pair of crashes, one that took him out of the Tour de France in July and another in a crash in Holland on Aug. 20. He entered the Vuelta intent on regaining his fitness ahead of Madrid, something the Belgian star says is mission accomplished.

“This season is already very good for me. Of course, it can be even better with a medal at the world’s. It’s not often the world’s course is tailored for a sprint, so I have to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said. “Everyone says it’s going to be a sprint, but I’m not so sure. The course is harder than people think, but I will bet on the sprint. That’s my best chance to win a medal.”

McEwen skipped the Vuelta, where most of the Madrid favorites chose to hone their world’s form, and instead won a pair of races capped by taking the honors at Paris-Brussels two weekend’s ago.

“I chose to make a short run-up in my preparation for the world’s, rather than race the Vuelta, which started quite a bit earlier than in previous years,” McEwen said. “I also raced the Giro and the Tour, so I wanted to make sure I was fully recovered from the Tour before starting to prepare for the world’s.”

Tom Danielson, fresh off finishing eighth overall in the Vuelta, got a preview of the road course when Sunday’s final stage traced the route in two final laps. The 27-year-old said the course is “harder than people say it is.”

“It’s not an easy course at all. There are all kinds of bumps, traffic circles and hard corners that will make it a tense race,” said Danielson, who passed on a chance to race the world’s. “The climbs are harder than people think and it’s not sure it will all just come down to a sprint.”

A big worry is the final turn, which double-backs with a U-turn on the Paseo de la Castellana with about 450 meters to go. Petacchi, who won Sunday’s final stage of the Vuelta on the same course, groused that the finish was “ugly.”

“It’s an ugly and difficult finish that you’ll have to be very careful about,” Petacchi said. “The last turn is very complicated and it will fundamental for the team to be at the front with two or three riders, where you’ll have to slow down and then start the sprint.”

Petacchi also shot down the growing assumption that everyone believes it will be a fore-gone conclusion that it will be a sprint finish.

“Everyone in the world believes that it’s an easy course, but it’s not,” he continued. “It’s a long race, nearly 280km, there will be a lot of attacks, above all on the climbs and it will be very hard. This isn’t like the world’s at Zolder. Here you can’t just follow the wheel.”

In the women’s race, defending world champion Judith Arndt won’t be sure to take the start as she’s fighting off a viral infection that kept her out of the latest round of the World Cup.

In the U-23 race, American Tyler Farrar stands a very good chance to medal against the European favorites.

Race of truth
The time trial course will be held in Madrid’s Casa de Campo park just west of the old, historic downtown. Once a private hunting preserve for Spain’s king, the huge park now serves as any get-away for Madrileños looking for a bit of green in the concrete jungle.

The 21.9km circuit (once for women, twice for elite men; U23 race on a shortened 19.1km course) is also much hillier than people will expect. Despite a series of traffic circles and a tricky left-hander within the final kilometer, the course is not overly technical.

The course opens with a gradually sloping hill that climbs 100 meters in 6.3km, not terribly steep but enough to take the wind out of some rider’s sails. The course then double-backs along the same route before hitting another punchy climb (skirting part of the World Cup mountain bike course, on pavement, of course) and looping through a nice forested area. A fast descent coming into a sharp left turn could present some problems with just over 1km to go before a sweeping finish along a pond to the “meta.”

Favorites in the men’s heat include USA’s Bobby Julich and Holland’s Thomas Dekker, who squared last weekend in the Tour of Poland. Dekker upset Olympic bronze medalist Julich in Poland, but at the longer distance, the more experienced Julich should be able to hold off his young challenger.

In the women’s race, Spanish racing legend Joanne Somarriba is hoping to end her cycling career with a gold medal.