ZURICH (Switzerland) – Everything works so well, that you are amazed by unmotivated imperfectionsWe overcame the typically Italian skepticism about using public transport to get from the hotel to the race venues. In reality there are no great alternatives. UCI He established that the press would not be entitled to car passes and that shuttles departing from the press room would be reserved for photographers only. So, it was enough to do the math and realize that Having free transport (thanks to a stamp on the accreditation) is a big step forward compared to the parking in the centre which costs 8-9 euros per hourBuses and trains, on the other hand, arrive and depart with Swiss precision. Bicycles are often used in all their forms, including cargo bikes for transporting children. To go to school or to the park. Everything works. For this reason Some details of the World Championship organization, to which the UCI has apparently turned a blind eye, are surprising.
Bike inspection
Yesterday at the start of the elite women's time trial from Gossau and also in these hours for the under 23s and for paracycling, the team parking was located one and a half kilometers from the bike check pointThe parking is located at the top, the checkpoint is at the bottom near the starting ramp. In the middle there is a nice climb, which the mechanics went up pushing the bikes and tandems. If something like this had simply been proposed at the Giro d'Italia or any other race in Italy, it is certain that the organizers would have received the warning from the UCI inspectors.
And speaking of measures, among the technical innovations of the year, which forced the Italian mechanics to get to grips with Vittoria Guazzini's bike, there is that the little computers are coming back in the measurement of the inclination of the appendagesIf the extensions are in place, but the computer – which is impossible to lean on – sticks out by half a centimeter, the bike is not in order.
The descent to the lake
We continue with the time trials and yesterday we saw and heard about the risks that were taken along the last descentIn that stretch where you're approaching 100 miles an hour, the road suddenly narrows, the road surface is quite uneven, the gradient is in double digits and at the bottom you slip under a stone arch.
Marco Velo he had noticed that the stretch was dangerous ever since he came with the other Italian technicians to view the time trial route, but nothing has changed in the meantime. And when the Italian technicians expressed their doubts in the technical meeting, they were told by Laurent Bezault, former rider and now UCI Road Master, that no one before them had raised the issue. He added, however, that he would positioned on the route of the safety personnel, responsible for recommending the riders to slow downSuggest slowing down in a race that depends on seconds, where you start strong and finish flat out?
It's unusual. Just as it's unusual that the teams have to signal the danger of a pass and it is not the technical commission that approves the routes that evaluates the anomalyIn any case, the riders reiterated the same point of view in unison, without this apparently having left any trace in the official evaluations.
The World Cup for everyone
In the interview published yesterday at Victor Podesta, the paracycling champion who retired in 2021 highlighted a detail that is by no means negligible. «The organization of such a large event open to athletes with such different performances – he told Alberto Dolfin – is brought to choose paths that are not completely in focus for some categories. This doesn't happen in the world championships exclusively for para-cycling."
On that same descent, if you look closely tandems are also racing, with an able-bodied athlete in front of them and a blind person behind them, who suffers the roughness of the road. In a tandem, only one brakes, but the weight is double.They also have a lenticular rear and a high-profile front. Given the route, Italian national team player Addesi recommended to race safely, especially thinking about the road testIt's fine to be forced to design routes that aren't completely clear, but are we sure that having the tandem bikes pass on that stretch of road (which is also looming over the possibility of rain today) was inevitable?
The World Championships in Zurich continue with the time trials. So far, the spectacle has been top-notch. The organizers have done an impeccable job and perhaps those just explained will be the only two slips in ten days at the top.
It can happen, nobody's perfect: That's why there are those in charge of controlling it, but this time the UCI men remained immobile. That descent had to be removed, just as dangerous sections have been eliminated from the courses of many races in the past. We'll try to understand why this didn't happen this evening, as we take the train back to our hotel.
