On the 22nd of September the international peloton will begin the
World Championships in Zurich. The first event will be the individual time-trial, and so the best time-trialists from all around the world will face off in Switzerland to battle for the rainbow jersey. We take a look at the profile.
The route will be long and it will be difficult in Zurich. It is a time-trial shorter than the men's, lacking the very long flat section at the start; which ultimately makes it more hilly and less suiting to the specialists. Furthermore the women's peloton will take longer time to tackle the ascents which makes them more important.
Here there will only be 5 kilometers of flat roads before the key part of the course. We have got firstly 700 meters at 5%; 2.4 kilometers at 4.9% (the second intermediate point is at the summit of this climb, 10.5 kilometers into the effort) which feature a relatively steep ramp at it's start... Then there are 2 slightly technical and steep kilometers of descending before another slightly uphill ramp. The riders descend back into the lakeside in a small but very fast descent, before the final section of the race.
The final 12 kilometers of the time-trial are - literally - a straight line. No braking, no cornering, just a flat-out effort by the lake that features no gradients and will to be a constant effort all the way through. The riders have the finish line as they reach the center of Zurich.
Gossau - Zurich, 30 kilometers