It hasn’t been the usual path toward the 2022 Road World Championships in Wollongong with the COVID-19 pandemic acting as a 'handbrake', but as Australia continues to open borders the courses are heading a step closer to finalisation. Last week Race Director Scott Sunderland was on the ground and made some final adjustments ahead of a UCI visit expected at the end of this month.
The course was outlined in December of 2021, with the roads and key features disclosed but not the distances, elevations or number of laps of race loops. The delay in the detail was tied back to the international border limitations in place, which made it hard for not only the UCI representatives to make it to Australia for a course inspection but also a challenge for Sunderland, who is also based in Europe.
"COVID has definitely been a massive handbrake on this whole event, like it has for many types of events around the world ..., and we can't deny that,” Sunderland told Cyclingnews. “Through that, opportunities for me to be able to travel to Australia along with the UCI have been massively hamstrung by this.”
Nevertheless, Sunderland said the local organising committee, lead by Wollongong 2022 CEO Stu Taggart, had continued to soldier on and now the momentum toward the September event was building.
“I think we are in a good position, but it would help if things do start to really open up now so that it allows us to get on with this and really move it forward."
Gradually loosening border and quarantine restrictions meant Sunderland was able to get on the ground in and around Wollongong to look over the courses with the team before the inspection visit by the UCI, and since then the process of opening up has continued. This week it was revealed that, from February 21, the international border will be open to those who are double-vaccinated, a big step in reducing the border access hurdles faced by the event, which runs for eight days from September 18, 2022.
The elite road races start in the small town of Helensburgh, south of Sydney, traversing the coastline before taking in a city circuit that includes the climb of Mount Pleasant, and a loop that takes riders up the escarpment with a climb of Mount Keira. All the other events start and finish in the coastal city of Wollongong, with the time trials taking place on a circuit where riders sweep past the beach as they head toward the finish line.
“We made a few little subtle changes and tweaks that we feel are going to improve the race – the race flow, the race safety and the race dynamics – and I'm very happy with it, with where we got to,” Sunderland said after spending time on the ground going over the course in detail with the team.
“I think we have a very solid course. It's going to be challenging, exciting, dynamic and very picturesque, and it's a course that I think is not only going to be something that riders love, but I think the fans and spectators are going to thoroughly enjoy it as well."
There have been plenty of Australian riders taking advantage of a summer visit at home to take a look at the roads of the home World Championships. One of the features that has been among those drawing comment has been the city circuit climb of Mount Pleasant – which has an average gradient of 7.7 per cent and a maximum of 14 per cent. Sunderland pointed out it isn’t a feature that is likely to be very pleasant for the riders on race day.
"It goes in steps and you don't always have a view of where the top is, so you can mistakenly think 'I'm almost there', so that leaves a little bit of deception on that climb – in the throes of attacking and the race going forward if someone gets it a little bit wrong on what part of the climb they could tactically make a mistake.”
It shouldn’t be too long before the riders find out how many times they will have to take on that ascent and other climbs, or the details of those course 'tweaks'. The UCI said in the December course outline announcement that it would visit in the first quarter of 2022 to “see first-hand the extensive planning by the organising committee and confirm all race details, which will then be released to the international cycling community,"
That visit is now expected at the end of the month and Wollongong Worlds organisers have said details should be shared in the month or so following.
