The medieval town of Stirling will crown the time trial specialists at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, between 9 and 11 August. Glasgow will also be part of the race against the clock, hosting the team time trial mixed relay on Tuesday 8 August…
Between two weekends of road racing, the road time trials at the UCI Cycling World Championships will see six individual titles awarded in Stirling, while Glasgow will also vibrate to the rhythm of the passing seconds when it hosts the team time trial mixed relay on 8 August. It is all part of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland from 3 to 13 August.
The ascent to Stirling Castle will settle it
The parcours for all individual categories is predominantly flat, though the riders will have to preserve strength and energy for the final climb to Stirling Castle. A cobblestone bump that will hurt the legs; that’s the price to pay to become a cycling legend and spend the year with the rainbow stripes.
The Men Under-23 will compete for the first individual time trial title over a course of 36.2km on Wednesday 9 August. The following day, the Women Elite and Under-23 will tackle the same route, while the Women Junior will open the day over a shorter distance (13.4km).
On Friday 11 August, the Men Junior (22km) and Men Elite (47.8km) will compete for the last two rainbow jerseys up for grabs.
The time trial programme:
Tuesday 8 August: team time-trial mixed relay (Glasgow)
Wednesday 9 August: Men Under-23 (Stirling)
Thursday 10 August: Women Junior, Women Elite and Under-23 (Stirling)
Friday 11 August: Men Junior, Men Elite (Stirling)
Successors to Tobias Foss and Ellen van Dijk?
At home, the British intend to shine with the iconic Geraint Thomas and the rising-star Joshua Tarling, winner of the Juniors last year. But the fight to succeed Tobias Foss (NOR), crowned last year a second ahead of the Swiss Stefan Küng, promises to be intense with Filippo Ganna (ITA), Rémi Cavagna (FRA), Rohan Dennis (AUS), and the Belgians Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert all predicted to be in the mix.
In the women's Elite event, Ellen van Dijk won’t defend her title as she prepares to give birth. Instead, the European Champion in this discipline, Marlen Reusser, is one of the favourites for the rainbow stripes. But can Grace Brown (AUS), Vittoria Guazzini (ITA) or one of the Dutch stars beat the Swiss powerhouse?