UCI Road World Championships heading to Imola

The UCI Road World Championships will be staged in and around Imola later this month after Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region stepped in at short notice.

Cycling’s world governing body announced on August 12 that the original host region, Aigle-Martigny in Switzerland, had been forced to cancel due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but stated its determination to find an alternative venue in Europe with similar characteristics in terms of terrain.

That has now been delivered with a series of challenging courses designed for the championships, which will take place from September 24-27, reduced from the usual week-long competition as neither the junior nor under-23 categories will be contested this year.

Instead there will be road races and time-trials in the men’s and women’s elite categories only.

Races will start and finish at the famous Imola circuit, which is also returning to the Formula One calendar this year due to changes enforced by the pandemic.

Mountainous routes will see the men’s peloton take on almost 5,000 metres of climbing on a 259.2km course, while the women face 2,750 metres of climbing in 144km.

Imola was one of four bids received by the UCI, which also considered proposals from Peccioli and Alba Adriatica in Italy as well as the Haute-Saone region in France.

UCI president David Lappartient said: “I congratulate the Imola organising committee for the excellent quality of its bidding file which it succeeded in producing in a short lapse of time.

“It was not an easy choice, but it goes to show that even in this difficult period that we are going through, the UCI World Championships are still very attractive for cities and their regions.

“The award of the UCI Road World Championships in Italy this year is of great symbolic value for the UCI: in a country that suffered enormously from the Covid-19 pandemic but was able to confront it effectively and with courage, the staging of our leading annual event will, in its own way, be a sign of a return to normal in a region where the health situation is now under control.”