Bettini preview WC road course in Copenhagen
This year’s World Championship has been described as a sprinter’s course, but the Italian ‘Commissario Tecnico’, team manager of the Italian national squad, Paolo Bettini has warned that any eventual winner on September 25th will have to be far more than just a fast finisher. Earlier this year, Paolo Bettini made a trip to the Danish capital to get the first impression of the race course.
Speaking yesterday, Bettini said, “The World Championships circuit is not really complicated – only the final is complicated. But if it is raining or windy, it will be a really hard race.”
“It is essential for the riders to position themselves properly and economise their energy.” Bettini said. It is a relatively long circuit, more than 280 km, on a 14-kilometer circuit in the northern part of Copenhagen. Riders will cover the circuit 17 times on the way to the finish, which features a climb up Geels Hill in the closing meters.
Bettini believes that the medals will be decided in a groupe sprint to the finish line at the top of Geels Hill. “It will be a large groupe sprinting for gold after a very long race. It’ll end with at power sprint for riders with great stamina and great power. Nobody wins the WC by coincident and you’ll have to be very well prepared”, Bettini explains.
The two Italian national riders, Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) and Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Inox), were both a part of the final stage of the Tour of Denmark three weeks ago, and got a sample of the 14-kilometer circuit that will feature in the elite men’s road race.
Bennatti is regaining form after his injury and certainly has the credentials to compete. “The course profile doesn’t seem that hard. However it’s definitely not like Zolder,” Bennati told Gazzetta.it.
Modolo, the 24-year-old Italian, won two stages in Denmark. “I do not think that a pure sprinter will win the Worlds, my impression is that it will be somewhat selective, spcially if its raining or windy.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeE5aWZY8pE[/youtube]
UCI Road World championships 2011, road race circuit in Copenhagen.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MTUXtBe3WE[/youtube]Paolo Bettini’s first visit in Copenhagen, December 2010.