Everyone wants the rainbow jersey
The World Champion’s rainbow jersey is one of the most prominent clothes in our sport, on par with the Tour de France’s yellow jersey or the Giro d’Italia’s pink. Since the reigning world champions have the honor of wearing the rainbow colors in all races they compete in the discipline during the following year, we are faced with a significant day for many cyclists, as this race leaves a mark on a rider's palmarès.
It's worth noting that the Scottish city of Glasgow is hosting the first unified UCI World Championships, an event that combines road, mountain bike, track, trial, and BMX world championships. In this article, we will focus on the elite men's road championship, the first of the 4 races that award these coveted jerseys in Cycling Fantasy.
Route
The elite men's road race features a route tailored for classics specialists, which has attracted many of the major figures of the spring season, marking their D-day of the second half of the year.
The route covers 272 kilometers and accumulates 2888 meters of positive elevation gain. The first 132 kilometers lead the cyclists from Edinburgh to Glasgow, where they will enter the final circuit, a 14-kilometer loop that they will complete 10 times. The circuit is dotted with short climbs and adds up to 193 meters of climbing per lap. Moreover, it includes over 40 curves, making it a very technical course that can become slippery if it rains.
Favorites
Belgium presents the strongest team, with three top contenders for victory: Wout Van Aert (1200), Remco Evenepoel (1200), and Jasper Philipsen (1200). Other main favorites are Mathieu Van Der Poel (800), Mads Pedersen (1200), Tadej Pogačar (1200), and Christophe Laporte (1000, but the list of riders also includes Alexander Kristoff (800), Matteo Trentin (600), Kasper Asgreen (600), Michal Kwiatkowski (400), Alex Aranburu (600), Alfred Wright (600), Bryan Coquard (600), Kaden Groves (800), Mattias Skjelmose (1000), Sam Bennett (600), Marc Hirschi (600), Peter Sagan (600), Dylan Van Baarle, Alberto Bettiol (400), and Ben Healy (400), among many others.