Wollongong will be on the international radar in September, as some of cycling’s best hit the road for the UCI Road World Championships.
It’s only the second time that the century-old event has been held in Australia, and it means even if you’re not on the coast among the action, timezones won’t meddle with your viewing experience.
Racers will traverse the spectacular Sea Cliff Bridge north of Wollongong.
So, how can you catch the action? What should you look out for? And what is there to know about the competition?
The who, what, when of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships
From September 18 to 25, Wollongong’s roads will feel the wheels of roughly 1000 athletes looking to take out one of 11 titles over eight days.
Two days will be reserved for training, on September 17 and September 22.
The first flags will be raised on Sunday, September 18, as the women and men’s elite time trials open the week’s schedule.
The longest event of the championship is the men’s elite road race which is likely to run to about six or seven hours, with competitors covering 266.9 km and climbing nearly 4km over the course of the race.
For the first time in the championship’s history, the women’s elite time trial competitors will ride the same distance and follow the same course as their male counterparts.
In UCI tradition, the winner of each event from the previous year will be wearing the “rainbow jersey” – a white jersey with five horizontal bands in the UCI colours across the chest. They will only wear the jersey when competing in the same discipline, category and specialty in which they won their title.
The reigning champions to look out for in the elite category include two-time winners of their respective events, Filippo Ganna and Julian Alaphilippe. Alaphilippe faced a setback last month when he dislocated his shoulder on stage 11 of La Vuelta in Spain.
Ellen van Dijk and Elisa Balsamo are also elite cyclists who took out titles in last year’s championship.
Reigning women’s junior time trial champion Alena Ivanchenko, women’s junior road race champion Zoe Backstedt and men’s under-23 road race reigning champion Filippo Baroncini are all eligible to compete in the same events this year.
West Australian Ben O’Connor is also one to watch for in the road race, having finished fourth in his Tour de France debut last year. While O’Connor withdrew from that event this year due to injury, he was back on the road in the Vuelta a Espana this month.
Former Olympian Gracie Elvin said the Dutch team would be the one to beat in women’s cycling, but that Australians Georgia Baker and Amanda Spratt were strong chances. “[Baker] won the Commonwealth Games gold medal this year in the road race,” Elvin said. “And it’s pretty much a home race for Spratt.
“She’s one of the world’s best climbers at her peak.”
For the men’s category, Elvin said reigning champion Alaphilippe could take out the title for the third time, but that Australians Matthews, Simon Clarke and Jai Hindley were all contenders. “[Matthews and Clarke] both won a stage at the Tour de France this year so they’re very versatile,” she said. “We also have a really great climber in Jai Hindley. He was the winner of the Giro D’Italia this year.”
How can you catch the action?
If you plan to watch from home, the full races will be broadcast on Stan Sport. The final two-and-a-half hours of the elite races will be available free-to-air on the Nine Network.
The Wollongong City Council expects about 300,000 spectators at the event and a global audience of more than 300 million people.
The event is free, but if you’re planning to attend, there are road closures and public transport changes to take note of.
Major road closures include but are not limited to Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Masters Road, Springhill Road, Five Islands Road and Princes Highway at Unanderra on Saturday, September 24 and Sunday, September 25.
For those looking for a challenge, Elvin recommended trying out parts of the course ahead of the competition.
“It is a really difficult course and I encourage anyone if they have the opportunity or time to go and try it before the event starts,” she said. “Just so they get a bit of an idea about how good the riders are that are coming to race the World Championships and how difficult it is to ride out that climb at a fast speed and multiple times.”
The Wollongong 2022 Community Ride is scheduled for Saturday, September 17, and is an opportunity for the general public to cycle a segment of the course, including finishing under the official arch, before the professionals take to the roads.
Even if participating in the action isn’t to your taste, Elvin said watching the races in person would be an exciting and visually arresting experience. “That whole coastal line from the national park down to Wollongong is so stunning,” she said. “The surge on that final circuit with Mount Pleasant ensures that people who come out to watch in person get to see the riders more than once.
“If you get to stand on any part of that circuit, you get to see the women come by six times and the men 12 times, so it’s a really great vantage point.”
Stan Sport is the only place to watch every race from the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong from September 18 – 25.
View the Stan Sport schedule here.
