Riders have few opportunities to represent their country, and the UCI World Championships are among the rare occasions they can compete in their national colours. Even more rare is having the chance to pull on their national jersey in their home country. This year, Austrian riders will be able to do just that, when the 2018 UCI Road World Championships begin on September 23rd, in Innsbruck-Tirol.Bernhard Eisel, a veteran UCI WorldTour rider with Team Dimension Data, knows what it is like to race the Worlds at home, having represented Austria at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships in Salzburg, where he was 11th in the Elite men's road race.
"Doing World Championships on the road is always something special. You don't race for your team, you race with your mates who you maybe raced with when you were young. It's completely different; you ride for pride, like when you were young. I've done a lot of World Championships around the world, but definitely Salzburg was a special one for me. It was perfect until the last corner, when a group went away. When I look back ... we went into the last lap with five Austrians crossing the finish line first. This is something we will all never forget."More of a sprinter, Eisel will not race for Austria at the mountainous Innsbruck-Tirol UCI Road World Championships."I knew Innsbruck wouldn't be easy, and when they announced the course I knew it definitely wasn't for me! We have many strong young riders coming up now, so we'll have a really good team for the Championships. But I will be there for the whole week and watching from the side of the road with a beer in my hand."Definitely there is pressure, but it doesn't come from the country, it comes from within the rider himself. When you have home Worlds, the plan never leaves you... as soon as they announce the UCI World Championships in your home country, you start thinking about it. At every training ride, it crosses your mind and you focus on it. The national sport director will get nervous, but he will not show it to the rider. The rider will feel the pressure that he builds up himself, but you need that healthy pressure inside yourself to be good."Lukas Pöstlberger, who rides for the Bora-Hansgrohe World Tour team, will represent Austria at his home Worlds in the Elite men's road race.
"Having the UCI World Championships in your own country is not an every-day event; the Worlds itself is already not! So, having both together and happening in my active career is really unique!"The circuit is one of the hardest I've ever seen. It's a fact, and every rider and nation has to deal with it. 'Only the strongest will survive' is going to be the quote. I'm really curious to see how the race is going to be, and how it will be to race on the circuit."I'm really proud and it's a big honour to be selected for the team to compete against the best of the world on my home soil. Even when the parcours is not really fitted to my abilities, I'll give my best to support our captain Patrick Konrad to make these Worlds maybe more special than all others."In Austria the cycling sport is growing, slowly but steadily. Trust in the sport is coming back, the athletes are getting more feedback from the public and, of course, having this event here motivates and helps a lot of people to show themselves, their passion and the beauty of cycling to others in the country. I hope it will give the cycling community a big boost to get this attention and the chance to grow."His comments are echoed by Matthias Brändle, a rider with Trek-Segafredo, who will race in the Elite men's time trial for Austria.
"It's really special this year to have the Worlds in Innsbruck; they are really close to my home, only 120 kilometres away. It will be really tough and hard racing, but it will show the nice mountains of Austria. I think there will be big crowds, because we are close to Italy and Germany."As a rider, you don't have many opportunities to do a World Championships at home, so it's really, really special. I will compete in the team time trial and then the individual time trial. I'm really motivated for these races and hope to recover well from the Vuelta so I can have a nice result on home roads."