WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RR & TT PREVIEW

COURSE DETAILS

Road races

Worlds week is crowned by the weekend’s elite road races, and the women’s event at Wollongong is particularly notable this year for being the longest ever, at 164.3km. The distance has grown steadily since its inauguration in Reims, 1958, when it was 59.4km, and this is the first time it has risen above the 160km mark.

Both men and women begin with a 30km southward coastal traverse from the start at Helensburgh to the heart of the championships at Wollongong. Once there, both the men and the women embark on a single circuit over the considerable climb of Mount Keira, which sits just inland from the city and offers incredible views. At 8.7km long with a 5% average grade and ramps of up to 15%, it will add fatigue to the legs and see riders from lesser cycling nations dropped.

There is a long way for any splits to be repaired, but with both races going straight from Mount Keira into the more technical and lumpy Wollongong city circuit, controlling the time gaps will be difficult.

The 17-kilometre