The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is pleased to present the routes for the road races and time trials at the 2020 UCI Road World Championships which will take place in Imola, Emlia-Romagna, in the north-east of Italy, from 24 to 27 September.
As announced on 2 September, shortly after the cancellation of the UCI Worlds in Aigle-Martigny (Switzerland), Italy will host an event for the Elite categories, with a road race and a time trial for both men and women.
The road races will be disputed - for the first time since the 2014 UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada (Spain) – entirely on one circuit to be covered several times; measuring 28.8km with the start and finish at Imola’s renowned automobile circuit Enzo e Dino Ferrari. After completing a neutral start around the Autodrome, the full route will measure 258.2km for the men with total climbing of nearly 5000m, while the length of the women’s road race will be 143km and around 2800m of cumulated ascension.
The loop, to be covered nine time by the men and five times by the women, will include two difficult sections – the Mazzolano and Cima Gallisterna climbs – which combined total 5,5km of climbing with an average gradient of 10% and passages reaching 14%. The first kilometre and the three last kilometres of every lap of the race will take place on the Formula One racing circuit while the rest of the course will pass through an undulating region, on narrow roads surrounded by vineyards.
The first six kilometres of this circuit, which will suit punchers and climbers, corresponds with the final six kilometres of the 1968 edition of the UCI Road Worlds, won by the Italian rider Vittorio Adorni.
According to Italian national selector Davide Cassani, a former professional cyclist living in the region and President of the Emlia-Romagne Tourism Promotion Committee, “it will be a difficult course: riders will need to cope with repeated efforts, there will not be much recovery between the two difficulties, and the second will be followed by three kilometres of descent on a winding road. Team tactics will be important to get the leaders to the end. The finish will be solo or in a small group.”
The fairly flat route for the time trials, to be covered once by both the men and women, will measure 31,7km with an altitude difference of 200m, suiting the strongest specialists of the race against the clock.
“It will be a very fast circuit,” says Davide Cassani. “Apart from two small uphill sections in the last five kilometres before entering the Imola Autodrome, it will be ideal for the pure specialists. We should see averages of over 50km/h”
Download the routes and profiles of the 2020 UCI Road World Championships
-Road race route ( link)
-Men’s road race profile ( link)
-Women’s road race profile ( link)
-Time trial route ( link)
-Time trial profile ( link)