World Cycling Championships 2022: Preview, schedule, routes & elevation profiles
Facts about the 2022 World Cycling Championships
- Date: 18-25 September 2022
- Location: Wollongong, Australia
The harbour city in the Australian state of New South Wales has a population of around 307,000 (as of 2021). It is located around 70 kilometres south of Sydney, the venue of the 2000 Olympic Games.
Click through: The world champions in the men's road race since 2000
World Cycling Championships 2022: schedule & route
All figures are Australian local time; for the time in Germany (CEST) you have to calculate eight hours back.
SUNDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER
- 9:35-12:30, individual time trial women | To the race report
- 13:40-17:00, individual time trial men | To the race report | Birds attack professional cyclists | Father Foss makes a horrendous betting profit
MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER
- 13:20-17:00, individual time trial men U23
TUESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER
- 9:30-11:05, individual time trial junior women | To the race report
- 13:20-17:00, individual time trial juniors
WEDNESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER
- 14:20-17:05, Team time trial mixed relay | To the race report | Van Vleuten talks about crash
FRIDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER
- 8:15-11:35, Road race juniors | To the race report
- 13:00-17:10, men's U23 road race
SATURDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER
- 8:00-9:50 am, junior road race
- 12:25-17:00, Road Race Women Elite | To the race report | The favourites check with Claudia Lichtenberg | Van Vleuten rides with a broken elbow
SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER
- 10:15-16:50, Road Race Men Elite | To the race report | Favourites check with Jens Voigt | Biniam Girmay at the start with a special cube | German team with outsider role | Duel of the talents of the century? | Van der Poel arrested before World Championship race | Van der Poel faces further trouble | Van der Poel sentenced to a fine
The World Cycling Championships on TV & livestream
The competitions of the World Cycling Championships will be broadcast live on Eurosport 1. There is also the option to stream them via the Eurosportplayer (for a fee).
2022 World Cycling Championships: Preview & favourites
It was a sensational test of talent. "Try something that nobody expects," the wife of professional cyclist Michael Matthews had told him. And he did as he was told. On the 14th stage the Tour de France, the Australian professional cyclist from Team Bike-Exchange-Jayco into an early breakaway group, gradually broke it up and then made a surprisingly early start on the steep climb to the airfield in Mende.
The attempts to catch him failed - the 2017 Green Jersey winner did not wait for a sprint, but reached the stage finish in first place - as a soloist. It was also a bid for the captain's patent in perhaps the most important race for the cyclist from Canberra, Australia: the World Cycling Championships in Wollongong on 25 September 2022, where a challenging course awaits both men and women.
Spratt knows the World Cup course
"It's a really tough course - tougher than it looks on paper," says Amanda Spratt, who has been one of Australia's strongest cyclists for years. She knows the course well, having grown up around 70 kilometres from the World Cycling Championships venue in a suburb of Sydney and having trained on parts of the course. "My feeling is that it will be too tough for a pure sprinter," emphasises Spratt.
Click through: The road world champions since 2006
And that's why competition appearances like Matthews', where the 31-year-old showed everyone once again, are important: He is more than just a sprinter - and no mountain is too steep for him. After all, he competes in the Australian national team with Caleb Ewan, one of the strongest sprinters of recent years. But he was unable to promote himself at the Tour de France - he remained inconspicuous for three weeks and was not nominated for the Australian national team for the World Cycling Championships.
Challenging course at the World Cycling Championships in Australia
Ewan had previously expressed his disappointment at the late publication of the route for the World Championships. He said that his advice had not been listened to, otherwise the route would have looked different. Translated: flatter and therefore more sprinter-friendly. The course in and around the harbour city of Wollongong is already challenging in view of the numbers.
The men have to climb 3945 metres in altitude over a distance of 266.9 kilometres, the women - in the longest World Championship race in history - 2433 metres in altitude over 164.3 kilometres. After the run-up from the starting town of Helensburgh, the route follows the Pacific coast to Wollongong, where the first climb is from the coast to the almost 500 metre high Mount Keira.
Ascent like the Fleche Wallone
"It's not really steep, but it's seven or eight kilometres long," says Spratt. Decisive events in the elite races will probably only happen in the laps on the 17-kilometre city course in Geelong. "On the city course, it's a steep climb up Mount Pleasant - we're talking about a climb like the Fleche Wallonne," says the experienced Australian racer - in other words, similar to the Mur de Huy, even if the finish is a bit further away from the highest point of Mount Pleasant.
A fast descent at a speed of 80 to 90 kilometres follows. "After that, you might still have three or four kilometres to catch someone," warns Spratt. "It will be an aggressive race for aggressive racers." For Spratt, the super all-rounder Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe are hot candidates for victory in the men's race - certainly also a rider like Mathieu van der Poel, if the Dutchman recovers from his weak phase in the summer. And Matthews too.
Will Alaphilippe be world champion again?
"The course is similar to Leuven," says race director Scott Sunderland - in other words, similar to the 2021 World Championship course on which Alaphilippe became world champion for the second time in a row. However, after a crash at the Vuelta, the defending champion will not be starting the race with optimal preparation.
In the women's race, victory will only go to the Dutch, who have several top favourites in their ranks - with Annemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos at the front.
However, Spratt sees attacking racers such as Elisa Longo Borghini, who will certainly be part of a strong Italian team, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig from Denmark and the Australian Grace Brown at the front.
Spratt does not count herself among the favourites
After all, the Dutch women have often handicapped themselves in the past - too many top riders in one team, no clear hierarchy. Spratt does not see herself in the inner circle - she is just getting back into the swing of things after artery surgery. This is the second time that the Australian cyclists have been allowed to compete in World Championship races in front of a home crowd.
For Matthews, 32 years old in September, a circle would close. His star rose at the first World Championships ever to be held on Australian soil: He won the final sprint in the U23 class race in Geelong in 2010, leaving a disappointed John Degenkolb behind, who had to make do with silver. Matthews has already come close to the rainbow jersey in the pro ranks - he finished second in 2015 and third in 2017.
Landslide on Mount Keira
It will be easier than in the elite class races in the junior classes, which remain on the city circuit and do not climb Mount Keira. The severe flooding in July also affected Wollongong - there was a major landslide on Mount Keira. However, the organisers hope that all the routes will be open at the end of September as planned.
The time trial courses are significantly flatter than the road races. For the first time, men and women will race the same distance against the clock in the elite competition: 34.2 kilometres each with 312 metres of climbing - spread over two laps through the city centre. However, Mount Ousley (53 metres) has to be conquered twice - a rhythm breaker.
What are Germany's chances at the 2022 World Cycling Championships?
In the team time trial, which is held as a relay, the men's and women's teams will each ride a 14-kilometre lap. For the German Cycling Federation, it will be the first World Championships without Tony Martin - the long-time medallist retired after winning the mixed team title last year. A successor is not yet in sight.
For fans in Germany who want to watch the World Cycling Championship races live (the TV channel Eurosport is broadcasting), however, it will be a night-time programme due to the time difference to the Australian east coast. The starts take place in the middle of the night and many races finish at breakfast time.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
