Italy New Host of Road Cycling World Championships

(ATR) The 2020 Road World Championships will be staged in the Italian city of Imola following the August 12 cancellation of the event previously scheduled for Switzerland.

Cyclists will take to the roads of Imola and the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, Sept. 24-27. The Union Cycliste International (UCI) announced the change of venue on Wednesday morning.

However, due to the current world health situation, the four-day event will be limited to elite riders in the road race and time trial events. Junior and Under 23 events will not be contested. According to the UCI, most of the world’s best cyclists are already racing in Europe, some in the ongoing Tour de France, which is not the case for various junior riders and their delegations, who would face travel restrictions imposed by many countries.

The start and finish of races will occur on the renowned Imola automobile racing circuit, previously home to the Formula One San Marino Grand Prix. Imola lies 40 kilometers southeast of Bologna and is considered the western entrance to the historic Romagna region.

"I congratulate the Imola organizing committee for the excellent quality of its bidding file which it succeeded in producing in a short lapse of time," said UCI president David Lappartient. "I would also like to thank the three other candidates Peccioli (Italy), Alba Adriatica (Italy) and the Haute-Saône (France) who also sent solid files to the UCI.

"It was not an easy choice, but it goes to show that even in this difficult period that we are going through, the UCI World Championships are still very attractive for cities and their regions."

The 2020 event will mark the 14th time that Italy has hosted the cycling world championships, more than any other country. Imola held the championships once previously, in 1968.

Forced to prepare the event in less than a month, Imola 2020 organizers have vast experience hosting world class cycling with the Autodrome Enzo e Dino Ferrari having served as the venue for several Giro d’Italia finishes.

"The award of the UCI Road World Championships in Italy this year is of great symbolic value for the UCI: in a country that suffered enormously from the Covid-19 pandemic but was able to confront it effectively and with courage, the staging of our leading annual event will, in its own way, be a sign of a return to normal in a region where the health situation is now under control," Lappartient said.

The marquee UCI cycling event, which was initially slated for Aigle-Martigny, Switzerland, had to be cancelled last month due to the Swiss government’s coronavirus restrictions preventing gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

"Although the award of the 2020 UCI Road World Championships to Imola is excellent news, my thoughts also go to the Aigle-Martigny organizing committee whom I sincerely thank for its commitment and the quality of our collaboration over the last two years," Lappartient said.

Routes proposed in Italy should impose significant challenge, as course characteristics will confront riders with comparable profiles to those planned for Aigle-Martigny. The men’s road race will travel 259.2 kilometers with 5,000 meters of climbing, while the women’s race will be 144 km in length with 2750 meters of ascension.

The races will be contested along a 28.8 km circuit, identical for men and women, and include two short, but imposing climbs, with an average gradient of 10 percent, but reaching 14 percent at sections.

A relatively flat 32 km time trial circuit for both men and women will present a 200-meter altitude difference with cyclists racing one at a time against the clock.

The first recognized cycling world championship, overseen by the International Cycling Association, took place in Chicago in 1893. Track races at one mile, 10 km, and a 100 km race were held.

The first UCI Road World Championships were held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1921. They have been contested every year since, with the exception of 1939-1945, due to World War II.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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