World Road Cycling Championships in Tuscany Florence Italy

The World Cycling Championships 2013 kick off on Sunday 22 September in Tuscany near Florence. The races are scheduled from 22 until 29 September. The profile of the Tuscan road tracks, with flat roads alternated with tiresome climbs, is considered tough and selective and probably one of the hardest for many years. 

From Sunday 22 September until Wednesday 25 September the several time trials take place. After a day off on Thursday it will be time for the junior road races on Friday and Saturday. The Cycling Championships end with the road race for elite women on Saturday and the road race for elite men on Sunday 29 September. This last one is a race of 272 km which starts in Lucca and finishes in Florence after 10 rounds on the local track of 16,6 km. 

Source : www.weatheronline.co.uk

The weather circumstances for the first races are very promising for the riders as well as for the public. 
If you want to go to Florence to assist the races you can park your car in the 100.000 sqm parking lot in Mugello with a capacity of about 3.000 cars (at 10,00 euro per day) or motorhomes (15,00 euro per day). Here you can rent bikes or take the train, the bus or a shuttle service to Florence. The tickets for the arrival zone in the Mandela Forum in Florence are sold out, but naturally you can go and see the race along the 16,6 km long local track which has to be ridden several times at the end of each race.

The World Cycling Championships in Tuscany feature some records for this event: 179 TV-stations are present for the worldwide coverage of the event and there are participants from 77 different countries. 

Another record is the participation of the 31 best classified riders of the UCI WorldTour Ranking. The first one in the ranking is the British rider Christopher Froome followed by the Spanish Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver. The local favorites are Vincenzo Nibali and Filippo Pozzato. According to the bookmakers the biggest favorites are the Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara and Slovak Peter Sagan, but also the Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert is considered a favorite.

Farmhouse with pool in Capannori between Lucca and Florence

THE WINNERS

Sunday 22 September

• UCI Team Time Trial women :  Specialized – Lululemon (USA) 
• UCI Team Time Trial men : Omega Pharma - Quickstep (BEL)

Monday 23 September

• Individual Time Trial women junioren : Eraud Sévérine (FRA)
• Individual Time Trial mannen beloften : Howson Damien (AUS)

Tuesday 24 September

• Individual Time Trial junior men : Decraene Igor (BEL)
• Individual Time Trial elite women  : Van Dijk Ellen (NED)

Wednesday 25 september

• Individual Time Trial elite men: Martin Tony (GER)

Friday 27 September

• Road race junior women : Dideriksen Amalie (DEN)
• Road race under 23 men : Mohoric Matej (SLO)

Saturday 28 September

• Road race junior men : Van der Poel Mathieu (NED)
• Road race elite women : Vos Marianne (NED)

Sunday 29 September

• Road race elite men : Faria da Costa Rui Alberto (POR) 

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