265km men's road race with close to 5,000 metres of climbing
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The field under neutral conditions on the way out of Innsbruck (Image credit: Mario Stiehl)
2018 world championships innsbruck road race profile(Image credit: Innsbruck-Tirol2018)
2018 world championships innsbruck road race map(Image credit: Innsbruck-Tirol2018)
2018 world championships innsbruck tirol road race profiles(Image credit: Innsbruck-Tirol2018)
2018 world championships innsbruck tirol team time trial map(Image credit: Innsbruck-Tirol2018)
2018 world championships innsbruck tirol time trial profile(Image credit: Innsbruck-Tirol2018)
The courses and the profiles for the 2018 World Championships in Innsbruck-Tirol have been confirmed by the UCI and race organisers. The UCI confirmed Innsbruck-Tirol as the host of the 2018 Worlds in February of 2016.
The men's road race is likely to one of the hardest ever seen with the 265-kilometre course featuring close to 5,000 meters of climbing. The World Championships will take place 23-30 September.
The first events on the schedule are the team time trials which will start in Ötztal and finish in Innsbruck. The women's race is 53.8 km in length and 62.1 km for the men.
For the junior men and women, U23 men, and elite women, the time trials will start in Hall-Wattens and finish in Innsbruck. The men's time trial also finishes in Innsbruck but will start in Alpbachtal Seenland with a distance of 54.2 km. The elite women's time trial, junior men, and U23 men is 28.5 km in length with the junior women to cover 20.2km.
The road races will start in Kufstein, heading west to finish in Innsbruck. The exception is the women's junior race which starts in Alpbachtal Seenland. The elite men will start in Kufsein and head to Innsbruck for 6 short laps of 23.9 kilometres and one long lap of 31 kilometres to decide the winner.
"After Villach in 1987 and Salzburg in 2006, it is a real pleasure to return to Austria with our leading road cycling event of the year," UCI president Brian Cookson said. "The Organising Committee for the 2018 UCI Road World Championships has pulled out all the stops to design magnificent and challenging courses. I have no doubt that these race courses will get the approval of both the riders and cycling fans worldwide."
While the two previous Austrian Worlds finished in bunch sprints for the elite men, the 2018 Worlds is likely to be won by a climber due to the 4,670 metres of elevation.
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"The challenging climbs and technical sections offered by in Innsbruck-Tirol combined with the traditional UCI Road World Championships distance promise to be a huge challenge for the riders," said Georg Spazier, head of the organising committee. "Only the most complete ones will have a chance on such a demanding terrain."
The 2017 Worlds are currently taking place in Bergen, Norway. Peter Sagan is the two-time defending elite men's champion with Amalie Dideriksen the defending women's road race champion.
