Event: Women's elite and U23 individual time trial
Distance: 34.2km
Timing: 9:35-12:30 AEST
The starting event for the 2022 Road World Championships is the combined elite/U23 individual time trial on Sunday September 24, which means that not one but two titles will be decided by early in the first afternoon of competition.
Not surprisingly, Dutch defending champion Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) and Annemiek van Vleuten are on the favourites list but they will have plenty of competition with Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) so often a threat and Grace Brown (Australia) motivated to make the most of her home-nation opportunity. Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands) meanwhile looks like a likely top performer in the U23 women category, which means she could be wearing the first rainbow jersey ever awarded for an U23 women's title at the Road World Championships.
The 34.2km time trial runs in and around the coastal city of Wollongong, taking in two laps of the corner heavy circuit, with a count of around 30 per round. The technical circuit will start on Market Street, just around the corner from the beachside finish line, heading to the west toward the Wollongong Botanical Gardens, and then into a small climb as the course heads off the small section on Mount Ousley Rd and onto the adjacent Dumfries Ave. The ascent peaks at the 7.2km-mark which is the first intermediate time check.
Riders then head back east before taking on leg that juts north to Towradgi and leads in a stretch where the corners decrease in regularity and severity, giving the specialists a chance to open up before they sweep toward the Flagstaff HIll lighthouse and what will next time be the finish line, at around the 17km point.
Then it is onto a second circuit and a second run through the Dumfries Avenue time check at the 24.5km mark before posting a potentially rainbow jersey deciding time on the Marine Drive finish line.
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Paris-Roubaix weather forecast – Rainfall, wind, and temperature details for this Sunday's races
All the latest on the weather outlook for this year's Queen of the Classics
