Profile. On the 6th of August of 2023, the riders will set off on the World Championships' men's Elite Road Race. They will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, where an urban circuit will give way to the riders to battle it out in the fight for the rainbow stripes.
As the longest race of the week, this will be the only one that will start in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. The riders are set to ride 272 kilometers through the hilly fields, crossing from Edinburgh to Glasgow where they will find the final circuit where the race will be decided. A test of endurance, the riders will find the very scenic Crow Road ascent which is 3.7 kilometers long at 5.5%, but will be well within the traditional landscape you would expect to see from a Scottish race. This will happen before the riders enter the Glasgow circuit with 120 kilometers on the legs.
Edinburgh - Glasgow, 272.3 kilometers
As was the case in the European Championships of 2018, it will be an extremely technical course where organizing a chase is virtually impossible, and it highly favours attacking racing from early on. The finish line will be in front of the iconic George Square. The circuit is 14.5 kilometers long and has no less than a whole incredible 44 corners which are of around 90 degrees (or more).
This means that there will be three per kilometer almost exactly, which also equates to one each 350 meters. This means constant breaking, constant accelerations throughout a whole 150 kilometers. It is an unusual race, and a different type of effort than riders are used to in road races. You could see it almost as a four-hour long cyclocross race without the obstacles, the type of effort that will be done is similar, there is absolutely nothing constant about this one - looking at the detailed map of the circuit that becomes easily observable.
However when looking at the profile we get another story, one which will also lead to the explosive racing, which is that the circuit is far from flat. We can observe that there isn't any serious ascent, but the 14.5 kilometers are filled with tiny 'shark teeth'. A lot of the circuit is up and down, specially the last two third, they include a few hilltops that are noteworthy and can be some of the most likely spots for attacks to surge.
Park district, Scott Street and Montrose Street are ones to eye, but each are efforts of a minute or less, we should be seeing all-out sprints up them. However this circuit is much more than the climbs. Anyone who attacks will be hard to chase, meaning that a gap is dangerous wherever it's created, and with the circuit being technical from start to finish it provides opportunities for riders to get a gap all throughout.
Montrose will be the final meaningful climb of the circuit it reaches 13% and ends with 1.5 kilometers to go. From there on there are still five sharp corners, and the finishing straight will be flat and with 350 meters in length.
Map Glasgow World Championships Men's Elite Road Race 2023
