First road races at the Copenhagen Worlds and first medals for the French and the British riders. The junior road race was won by Lucy Garner, who outsprinted Belgium Druyts and Denmark Siggaard in a very powerful way. Best Italian rider was Beatrice Bartelloni, 8th, whereas Rossella Ratto was 11th.
The young Bergamask rider, who is one of the most talented athletes out there (no, I'm not saying that just because she goes to my former high school and knows some of my former teachers, absolutely not!), tried to break away from the group in the last part of the race, but was caught with 600 meters to go.
As far as the U23 road race is concerned, Arnaud Demare was the main favourite for the victory. That boy isn't just good-looking, he's also extremely fast: this year, for example, he managed to get a victory in the pro category by outsprinting Hutarovich. Not bad, is it?
Amongst the main contenders for the victory there were also Australia Michael Hepburn (who, however, this afternoon never looked as good as he did in the TT) and Italians Sonny Colbrelli and Filippo Fortin. This afternoon Italy did its best to make the race exciting, but unfortunately the Copenhagen parcours doesn't love attackers. In fact, it doesn't have any climb and nor does it have any little slope, so that it is impossible to create big gaps between attackers and chasers.
In spite of Italy's efforts, the U23 World champion was eventually decided by a bunch sprint. Filippo Fortin was in a great position with 500 meters to go, but then he made a timing mistake and he got just a 6th place (he was extremely disappointed after the finish-line). The victory went to Demare (who burst into tears on the podium, how cute!) and the silver medal went to another Frenchman, Adrien Petit. The French leadout train was simply perfect, also thanks to the fact that Petit is a pro rider, therefore he is used to the confusion typical of massive sprints. The bronze medal eventually went to a British rider, Andy Fenn. The British leadout train was very good as well, whereas the Aussies (who raced very well until the final km of race) had some problems in the last few hundreds of meters.
After the finish-line, Demare looked simply overjoyed, with all his team surrounding him. Italians, on the other hand, were extremely disappointed. Of course the fact that our athletes still haven't won any medal is creating a bad atmosphere amongst Italian supporters and journalists and this caused some people to start criticising the Danish parcours and the UCI rules regarding the U23 World Championships. Petit in fact is already a pro, just like some other riders who took part in this afternoon competition (Betancourt and Brandle, for example). The Italian Cycling Federation has never liked the rule that allows young pros to compete against their less mature colleagues, so that the Italian team for the U23 Worlds has always been formed just by 'true' U23 riders. A very noble choice, some might say. Still, right after the race a jounalist pointed out that, if Italy hadn't taken that ethical decision a long time ago, 4 of the the Azzurri racing in Copenhagen this afternoon could have been Andrea Guardini (10 victories this year, he outsprinted both Cavendish and Boonen in one stage at Tour of Oman), Elia Favilli (3rd both in GP Costa degli Etruschi and in one stage at Tour of Turkey), Matteo Pelucchi (who this year has won la Clasica de Almeria) and Fabio Felline (who is 20 and who has won a Brixia Tour stage this season). This of course really makes me wonder how the race would have unfolded if Italy hadn't been so 'noble' and had taken some pros to Copenhagen too.
As far as the critics to the parcours are concerned, instead, many Italian people think that it is too easy (a journalist even described it as 'insignificant') and too dangerous. Unfortunately, I must admit I agree with these critics. Of course no one is criticising the Danish organisation of the race or things like that, but in Italy this kind of parcours isn't actually really loved (yes, I know, we're not impartial critics at all). However, to me the Copenhagen parcours reminds me of the Tour de France stages for sprinters - you know those long, boring, sunny stages when nothing happens but the crashes, don't you? Actually, to say it even better, that parcours would remind me a TdF stage for sprinters if only the TdF was raced in Holland. The Danish Worlds in fact have a very simple parcours, but the roads are often narrow and, most important, they are full of dangers. An Italian journalist counted 8 traffic islands along the parcours, I counted also a roundabout. Still talking about Italians, the national coach Bettini underlined the fact that the Danish barriers are very old-fashioned and dangerous, since their bases risk to make the riders crash if they ride too close to them.
A few months ago, while talking about this year Worlds, 'The Cricket' said that the Danish parcours is like a Northern Classic and that therefore the wind and the rain may have a very important role during the race. However, the weather forecasts say that the sun will shine on the Danish capital on Sunday, so that the weather won't help the Azzurri in making the race more exciting. Actually, I must mention that Bettini has recently stated that this year the Azzurri won't try to make the race exciting, but that they will just wait and see how things unfold. I don't really believe this fact, especially because unfortunately we don't have the fastest sprinter of the bunch, so on Sunday we'll be obliged to make the race become as difficult as possible. Moreover, an edition of the Worlds without la Squadra trying to take the race into its hand wouldn't be a true edition of the Worlds :P
Still talking about Sunday, Bettini also said that the race may actually be decided by crashes. These words sound really evil, but I'm afraid Paolo is right in saying that. In fact, amongst the athletes on Sunday there will be many unexperienced riders, who might have problems with all the curves and the traffic islands featured on the daily route. Moreover, the pressure and the nervousness will be almost unbearable, given that there are many teams who think they can win the race and that they will all try to be at the front of the peloton.
However. So far I've talked just about what will happen on Sunday. But still, we must remember that tomorrow there is also the women road race and that it will be a very exciting one. Will Giorgia Broizini manage to defend her rainbow jersey on a parcours that seems to suit her? Will Teutenberg show tht she's the fastest woman on Earth? And will Vos finally manage to win the rainbow jersey? Or will she get her sixth silver medal in a row? While waiting to know the answers to these questions, here you can find the start list of the road race. Enjoy!
WOMEN ROAD RACE:
Italy: Bronzini, Baccaille, Cantele, Cecchini, Guderzo, Longo Borghini, Scandolara, Tagliaferro. A good, solid team ready to defend Bronzini's rainbow jersey. Italians have won this race for three times in the last 4 years and the 2009 world champion, Tatiana Guderzo, will race also tomorrow (although the parcours doesn't actually suit her, she's a very good all-rounder). Longo Borghini and Scandolara are young, Cantele is experienced, Baccaille is fast: a very good team, let's hope they'll get a good result tomorrow!
Netherlands: Blaak, Brand, Bras, Gunnewijk, Van Vleuten, Vos, Wild. Vos is the eternal Worlds-favourite and she's never missed a podium spot in this race. Marianne is fast and experienced, Wild is another fast rider, Van Vleuten and Blaak are very solid athletes. Great team!
Germany: Arndt, Becker, Brennauer, Duester, Haeusler, Teutenberg, Worrack. The German team is very good as well and it has one of the main favourites for the race: Ina Yoko Teutenberg, who last year won every single flat stage at the Giro. Arndt and Hausler are very good Grand Tour riders, but tomorrow they'll work for Ina.
Sweden: Fahlin, Johansson, Lindberg, Mustonen, Olsson, Soederberg, Thomasson. A good team for Sweden, who will probably have Emma Johansson as a captain.
Great Britain: Armitstead, Colclough, Cooke, Laws, Martin, Pooley, Willianson. Another very good team, this one. Lizzy Armitstead is very fast (she is also a great pistard), Nicole Cooke is the Olympic champion, Pooley is an amazing climber who can work well for her team.
Russia: Bubnenkova, Burchenkova, Kozonchuk, Martisova, Zabelinskaya. A good team, but the Russian riders probably aren't as fast as some other ones.
USA: Cliff Ryan, Farina, Miller, Neven, Olds, Stevens. Olds, Steven and Neben are all pretty fast. The Americans can be dangerous, look out!
Belgium: De Vocht, Arys, De Vuyst, Henrion, Polspoel, Verbeke. Verbeke is an excellent Northern Classic rider and De Vocht is pretty fast.
Australia: Gillow, Gilmore, Hosking, Maclean, Ryan, Spratt, Whitelaw. Gillow, Gilmore, Hosking, Whitelaw: Australia doesn't lack of sprinters!
Canada: Hughes, Kirchmann, Numainville, Ramsden, Shaw, Whitten, Willock. Will the Canadians get a medal after their TT disappointment (they were 4th - for two seconds!! -, 5th and 7th)?
France: Biannic, Cordon, De Saint, Ferrier-Bruneau, Krasniak, Lesueur. For the first time since 1921, Jeannie Longo isn't part of the French team. Amazing, isn't it?
Lithuania: Cilvinaite, Janeliunaite, Juodvallkyte, Leleivyte, Sosenko, Sosna.
Luxembourg: Hoffman, Lamborelle, Schauss.
New Zealand: Villumsen.
Ukraine: Pavlukhina, Riabchenko, Vysotska.
Switzerland: Aubry, Hohl, Schwager, Schnider.
Poland: Jasinska, Brzezna, Kapusta,
Norway: Moberg, Nostvold, Thorsen.
Denmark: Jensen, Leth, Rasmussen.
Spain: Mazaga, Morales, Chafer.
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