UCI Granfondo World Championships: An amateur athlete at a world championship

UCI Granfondo World Championships - A dream comes true

Suddenly everything falls away from him. Tears roll down Stefan Eckardt's face as his wife hugs him. 10,000 kilometres until the beginning of August, lots of intervals, another two weeks of training camp in Italy. And then suddenly it's all over again, his big dream is history. The 54-year-old stands at the finish line of the Granfondo World Championships and has to let it all sink in. "I had tears in my eyes after just 130 kilometres," says the Siegen native. "I was proud of myself for getting there alone. After a 13-year break from cycling, to get back to this level within three years really got to me."

His wife Julia and son Vincent have travelled with him to support him. They are also there for him at the finish line near Scone Palace, where the kings of Scotland were once crowned. Stefan Eckardt is now beaming like a king - even though others are being crowned here today.

Ex-professionals with a bad reputation

Eckardt's age group is won by a certain Alexandr Vinokourov. Yes, the Vinokourov who was convicted of doping with foreign blood in 2007 and was also charged with allegedly paying a competitor 150000 euros to let him win Liège-Bastogne-Liège. While the Kazakh listens to his national anthem on the podium in the Granfondo world champion jersey with his hand on his heart, quite a few of his rivals are annoyed. "Convicted dopers should be excluded," grumbles Eckardt, who is not thrilled about the participation of numerous ex-pros.

Johnny Hoogerland wins the 40+ age group, Vinokourov the 50+, and Pascal Herve and Massimiliano Lelli, who are also embroiled in doping scandals, take third and seventh place in the 55+ category. In the women's category, Jeannie Longo, who is legendary in many respects, took silver in the over 65 age group. In the social networks, some participants vent their frustration about their presence. In a survey conducted by the online portal "Gran Fondo Daily News", a majority are against the participation of ex-professionals in the World Championships, which are actually intended for amateurs.

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The UCI has been organising the Granfondo World Championships for twelve years, which incidentally is not a "world championship for amateur riders", as is sometimes criticised somewhat disparagingly. All starters must have an amateur licence and elite riders are also eligible to compete. The Granfondo Championship is therefore both an age-group world championship modelled on the triathlon and the unofficial successor to the amateur cycling world championship, which was held until 1995 and won two years earlier by a certain Jan Ullrich. Professional cyclists are only excluded from the Granfondo World Championships if they are under contract with a professional racing team in the current year; former professionals are admitted.

Granfondo World Championship: UCI model for success?

Organiser Erwin Vervecken doesn't understand the criticism. "We had great riders at the start," he replies to TOUR, referring to Vinokourov or Longo as well as UCI President David Lappartient, who also rode along. You have to know: Vervecken was a cross pro for 16 years and now heads the global UCI Granfondo series, which is now firmly established and considered a model for success. At 23 qualifying races on four continents, cyclists aged between 19 and 84 can buy their ticket for the World Championships - if they make it into the top 25 per cent of their age group. The number of participants is increasing, as is the number of races, and in Scotland the UCI recorded 2,400 starts across all age groups in road races and time trials - despite a number of hurdles for the athletes travelling to the event.

In addition to the qualification fee, an entry fee of around 100 euros was also due, as well as travel and accommodation costs in the fully booked city of Perth, a good hundred kilometres from the World Championship centre in Glasgow. For capacity reasons, the UCI had outsourced the amateurs; this thwarted the promised unity of the major World Championships for almost all cycling disciplines and caused problems for many starters, for example because the trains to Perth hardly take any travellers with bicycles.

Of dreamy villages, sheep and pastures

Such logistical obstacles and high costs prevented participants from less affluent nations from travelling altogether. The resulting "home advantage" can be seen in the medal table: The host nation wins almost every year.

Those who are allowed to line up in the starting block on the unexpectedly sunny race day on the banks of the River Tay quickly get goosebumps. Thousands of spectators cheer on nervous age-group athletes as they set off at five-minute intervals. Many are waving flags or have made posters for their families. All of this has an effect on the protagonists: the national jerseys obviously give some amateurs wings - at least for a while. Some attack with everything they've got on the first of the challenging 160 kilometres through the Scottish Highlands.

The sometimes hectic riding style does not match the scenery of the race at all: past sheep, pastures, abandoned cottages and dreamy villages, the route leads ever further uphill. Two seven-kilometre climbs decide practically all age groups - this is where the fields explode, often on the initiative of the former pros. Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland, famous for a painful trip into a barbed wire fence at the Tour de France, launches one attack after another until there are only a handful of riders on his rear wheel.

Not worthy of a World Cup?

Unfortunately, Oliver Romahn is not one of them. He rode a strong race but still had to let Hoogerland and the front runners go. As German champion of the Masters 40+, he had hoped for more and criticised Hoogerland's participation. "I think it's wrong. It has little to do with an amateur world championship." In his view, this also applies to the final of the race, which the UCI postponed shortly before the start. 600 metres before the finish, a hairpin bend leads through a narrow gateway, which is additionally narrowed with bars. "One of my group rode straight ahead. That was not responsible for a world championship," says Romahn.

In the end, we are left with a mixed picture of a world championship that is intended for everyone. Great emotions, goosebump moments and many enthusiastic participants contrast with critical voices calling for changes. From a German perspective, there may be a decisive innovation in 2024: For the first time, a qualifying race for the Granfondo World Championships could be held in Germany.