UCI road world championships course: Time Trial
Get familiar with the course of today's time trial events at the UCI road world championships in Richmond, Virginia.
QUICK FACTS:
Course: Flat and fast with a tricky finish.
Distance: 38.6 kilometres.
Elevation change: 240 metres.
During today’s men’s and women’s team time trials at the UCI road world championships in Richmond, Virginia, no athletes will be wearing the colours of their home countries. Instead, as the only discipline of competition arranged in this way, it’s contested by a rider’s trade team. It’s why American Evelyn Stevens, for example, is racing on a Dutch team, and why other competitors nationalities aren’t reflected by their start lists.
And for those competitors, the course — 386 km in total, with 240 metres of elevation change — features the type of fast, aggressive intensity you’d expect for a season-capping global-level race .
The first of those kilometres roll through the historic Northside neighbourhoods of Richmond, en route to the city. Against the backdrop of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, the team time trial moves south along Lakeside Avenue, before a turn southeast on to Monument Avenue and the more technical, tightly-turning stretches closer to the urban heart of the city. The race then speeds southeast, continuing into the outlying countryside before looping back towards downtown.
After passing through Richmond National Battlefield Park, the race re-enters the city through Shockoe Bottom, lurching into a hard right-hand turn on to Governor Street that takes them headlong into a 300-metre climb — one of three climbs that competitors in various disciplines will have to contend with this week.
Once at the top of the Governor Street climb, another sharp left-hand turn follows, leading riders into an especially flat, sprint-friendly portion of the race: the 680 metre dash straight to the finish.
Further information about today’s team time trial course is available in PDF form via the Richmond 2015 website.
