Road Race World Championships 2013… I forgot to turn off the message alert on my BlackBerry and it started beeping away just before 04:00 am – it didn’t matter, I was awake anyway.
The aphids had breached my defences and the irritation of the bites had wakened me.
It was Pete Jacques on the text from Trinidad, quoting the Sunday Times;
‘A Team Sky cyclist has received a letter from the sport’s governing body, the UCI asking him to explain suspect blood values dating back to September 2012, three months before he joined the world’s number one team.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke was selected to ride for Great Britain in today’s world championship road race in Florence but pulled out on Thursday citing lack of form.’
We’ll not draw and quarter the man, let alone hang him before he’s even tried for his offence – that’s if there is a charge to answer – but it would be a very disappointing one if it’s true.
I was in communication with him just a few weeks ago when I saw the percorso here, after last year’s cracking ride at Valkenburg, this looked made for him.
He cited Sky’s insistence on his using unfamiliar training methods for his lack of results, this year.
Let’s hope that ‘it ain’t so;’ even though it will for sure dominate the Media today and add to the negatives of an already poor Worlds for the GB team with the juniors, U23 and ladies all failing to show and just Bradley Wiggins’ silver TT medal in the trophy cabinet.
The French, Danish and Netherlands teams all showed themselves in the Junior Road Race World Championships 2013 – as Androni manager Gianni Savio always says; ‘you must honour the race!’ – with Franck Bonnamour away with Colombian Martinez in the closing stages.
But it was third generation star, Mathieu Van Der Poel who stole the day for The Netherlands with a classy solo display.
His granddad is Raymond Poulidor, his dad is Adrie Van Der Poel so he’s stuck closely to that old adage of ‘choosing your parents carefully.’
His list of palmarès at just 18 years-of-age is astonishing and already includes a cyclo-cross world junior title.
But for all his successes he still looked overwhelmed by what he’d achieved, yesterday.
Unusually for a young Dutchman, he wasn’t on a Giant, with a nice looking white Zannata as the weapon of choice; with it’s gear ratios checked as soon as he crossed the line to make sure that one turn of the pedals doesn’t take the machine more than 7.93 metres.
The bams were out in force as I headed off in search of nice images; the course is tough but isn’t photogenic with the percorso on the edge of town.
The race route only makes one pass through the old city on it’s way in to pick up the circuit which is on the north side of Florence in the hills.
I decided I’d like some shots of the ladies in Florence’s historic centre and snapped them with the Duomo’s campanile (bell tower) in the back ground.
The thing about writing for Pez is that US readers don’t just want the hardcore stuff, they like to see what Italy and the big races are all about – not just riders pulling faces.
And on that subject, it certainly wasn’t a procession as the US driven peloton’s carbon rims rattled across the old stone sets of Florence.
I had to get a taxi back across to the circuit after my little adventure, though – I couldn’t face all those long, long, soulless straights I walked to get to the old town.
Cabs in Florence on a Saturday afternoon are scarcer than they are on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk at 03:00 am on a Sunday and it took me an age to grab one and get back to the circuit.
There were two laps to go when I arrived and settled into the press tribune.
The percorso was patently too hard for most of the field and the leaders didn’t need to drive off the Salviati on the penultimate circuit – the rest were done.
Marianne Vos proved that she’s head and shoulders above the rest at the moment – but the US commentator’s inane rantings that she’s the best cyclist in the world and comparable to Eddy Merckx were completely over the top.
What would he have said about Beryl Burton; how many times would she have won the World Ladies’ TT Champs – maybe a dozen?
The scenes around Vos after the finish were about the craziest I’ve ever witnessed; even by the radj standards of the cycling Paparazzi this was nutty.
Vos looked upset by it all as the UCI officials struggled to gain order.
Silver medallist Johansson was a bit phased by the mayhem too and it left me wondering what today’s finishing line scenes are going to be like – especially if ‘The Shark’ or ‘Pippo’ do the business.
Bronze medallist Ratto got a comparatively easy run in as the mad throng around Vos followed her right to the door of the ‘controle.’
My nice pizza and Moretti La Rossa – their new strong, red beer – was tempered a little by the hassle of trying to find a cab to get back to the digs – another operatic performance.
But that’ll all be irrelevant when that big peloton streams on to the circuit at lunch time – Cancellara? Sagan? Nibali? Pippo? Valverde? Kolobnev? Gilbert?
In just over 12 hour from now, we won’t have to guess.
Results - Junior & Womens' Road Races World Championship 2013
Womens' World Championship
2 Emma Johansson (Sweden) 0:00:15
3 Rossella Ratto (Italy)
4 Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) 0:00:33
5 Evelyn Stevens (United States of America) 0:00:46
6 Linda Melanie Villumsen (New Zealand) 0:00:50
7 Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) 0:00:52
8 Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)
9 Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) 0:01:40
10 Tatiana Antoshina (Russian Federation)
11 Elena Kuchinskaya (Russian Federation) 0:02:41
12 Claudia Häusler (Germany) 0:03:34
13 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France) 0:04:20
14 Megan Guarnier (United States of America) 0:04:41
15 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Netherlands) 0:05:03
16 Eleonora Van Dijk (Netherlands)
17 Paulina Brzezna (Poland)
18 Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) 0:05:05
19 Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain) 0:05:28
20 Trixi Worrack (Germany)
21 Eugenia Bujak (Poland)
22 Ashleigh Moolman (South Africa)
23 Flavia Oliveira (Brazil)
24 Francesca Cauz (Italy) 0:05:30
25 Carlee Taylor (Australia)
26 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 0:05:35
27 Lucinda Brand (Netherlands) 0:06:44
28 Valentina Scandolara (Italy) 0:07:40
29 Jolanda Neff (Switzerland)
30 Oxana Kozonchuk (Russian Federation)
31 Shara Gillow (Australia)
32 Kristin McGrath (United States of America)
33 Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada)
34 Edwige Pitel (France)
35 Doris Schweizer (Switzerland) 0:07:46
36 Tetyana Riabchenko (Ukraine) 0:08:51
37 Mara Abbott (United States of America) 0:09:40
38 Miriam Bjørnsrud (Norway) 0:12:09
39 Liesbet De Vocht (Belgium)
40 Eri Yonamine (Japan)
41 Susanna Zorzi (Italy)
42 Inga Cilvinaite (Lithuania)
43 Anastasiya Chulkova (Russian Federation) 0:13:00
44 Andrea Dvorak (United States of America)
45 Eivgenia Vysotska (Ukraine)
46 Anna Sanchis Chafer (Spain)
DNF Noemi Cantele (Italy)
DNF Hanna Solovey (Ukraine)
DNF Audrey Cordon (France)
DNF Madelene Olsson (Sweden)
DNF Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)
DNF Natalia Boyarskaya (Russian Federation)
DNF Lorena Maria Vargas Villamil (Colombia)
DNF Maaike Polspoel (Belgium)
DNF Reta Trotman (New Zealand)
DNF Enkhjargal Tuvshinjargal (Mongolia)
DNF Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen (Norway)
DNF Paz Bash (Israel)
DNF Uenia Fernandes Da Souza (Brazil)
DNF Aude Biannic (France)
DNF Amanda Spratt (Australia)
DNF Elise Delzenne (France)
DNF Olivia Dillon (Ireland)
DNF Melanie Späth (Ireland)
DNF Ingrid Lorvik (Norway)
DNF Julie Leth (Denmark)
DNF Daiva Tuslaite (Lithuania)
DNF Diana Peñuela (Colombia)
DNF Agne Silinyte (Lithuania)
DNF Špela Kern (Slovenia)
DNF Malgorzta Jasinska (Poland)
DNF Patricia Schwager (Switzerland)
DNF Lex Albrecht (Canada)
DNF Romy Kasper (Germany)
DNF Lisa Brennauer (Germany)
DNF Leah Kirchmann (Canada)
DNF Ane Santesteban Gonzalez (Spain)
DNF Denise Ramsden (Canada)
DNF Polona Batagelj (Slovenia)
DNF Ursa Pintar (Slovenia)
DNF Carolina Rodriguez Gutierrez (Mexico)
DNF Amy Cure (Australia)
DNF Gracie Elvin (Australia)
DNF Christine Majerus (Luxembourg)
DNF Annelies Van Doorslaer (Belgium)
DNF Sofie De Vuyst (Belgium)
DNF Esther Fennel (Germany)
DNF Andrea Graus (Austria)
DNF Martina Ritter (Austria)
DNF Daniela Pintarelli (Austria)
DNF Sara Mustonen (Sweden)
DNF Joelle Numainville (Canada)
DNF Amy Pieters (Netherlands)
DNF Minami Ueno (Japan)
DNF Ana Fagua (Colombia)
DNF Lilibeth Chacon Garcia (Venezuela)
DNF Belen Lopez Morales (Spain)
DNF Vita Heine (Latvia)
DNF Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland)
DNF Sari Saarelainen (Finland)
DNF Ingrid Drexel (Mexico)
DNF Jessie Daams (Belgium)
DNF Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
DNF Katie Colclough (Great Britain)
DNF Nikki Harris (Great Britain)
DNF Loes Gunnewijk (Netherlands)
DNF Lelizaveta Oshurkova (Ukraine)
DNF Silvija Latozaite (Lithuania)
DNF Ivanna Borovychenko (Ukraine)
DNF Katarzyna Pawlowska (Poland)
DNF Lauren Kitchen (Australia)
DNF Martina Ruzickova (Czech Republic)
DNF Ana Teresa Casas Bonilla (Mexico)
DNF Edith Guillen (Costa Rica)
DNF Diána Szurominé Pulsfort (Hungary)
DNF Nontasin Chanpeng (Thailand)
DNF Jutatip Maneephan (Thailand)
DNF Antonela Ferencic (Croatia)
DNF Clemilda Fernandes Silva (Brazil)
DNF Supaksorn Nuntana (Thailand)
DNF Kathryn Bertine (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
DNF Véronique Fortin (Canada)
DNF Katazina Sosna (Lithuania)
DNF Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (France)
DNF Emilia Fahlin (Sweden)
DNF Jessica Kihlbom (Sweden)
DNF Céline Van Severen (Belgium)
DNF Svetlana Stolbova (Russian Federation)
DNF Hanna Nilsson (Sweden)
DNF Martina Thomasson (Sweden)
DNF Elke Gebhardt (Germany)
DNF Karen Doljak (Paraguay)
DNF Carmen Small (United States of America)
DNF Jade Wilcoxson (United States of America)
DNF Lucy Garner (Great Britain)
DNF Emily Collins (New Zealand)
DNF Tereza Trefná (Czech Republic)
DNF Lotta Lepistö (Finland)
DNF Samah Khaled (Jordan)
DNF Cindi Magali Dinatale (Argentina)
DNF Dragana Kovacevic (Serbia)
Junior World Championship
2 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) 0:00:03
3 Iltjan Nika (Albania)
4 Logan Owen (United States Of America)
5 Lorenzo Rota (Italy)
6 Lucas Eriksson (Sweden)
7 Scott Davies (Great Britain)
8 Artem Nych (Russian Federation)
9 Sergey Shemyakin (Kazakhstan)
10 Benjamin Brkic (Austria)
11 Lorenzo Fortunato (Italy)
12 Gracjan Szelag (Poland)
13 Anatoliy Budyak (Ukraine)
14 Anders Skaarseth (Norway)
15 Daniel Martínez (Colombia)
16 Aliaksandr Riabushenko (Belarus)
17 Victor Langellotti (Monaco)
18 Piotr Konwa (Poland)
19 Robert Power (Australia)
20 Franck Bonnamour (France)
21 Jonas Abrahamsen (Norway)
22 Alessandro Fedeli (Italy) 0:00:08
23 Caio Godoy Ormenese (Brazil)
24 Simone Velasco (Italy) 0:01:00
25 Christoffer Lisson (Denmark) 0:01:09
26 Matic Safaric Kolar (Slovenia)
27 Julian Schulze (Germany)
28 Geoffrey Curran (United States Of America)
29 José Santoyo (Mexico)
30 Evgeny Kobernyak (Russian Federation)
31 Juan Felipe Osorio (Colombia)
32 Sam Oomen (Netherlands)
33 Pietro Andreoletti (Italy) 0:02:05
34 Mark Padun (Ukraine) 0:02:07
35 Laurens De Plus (Belgium)
36 Daniel Fitter (Australia) 0:02:24
37 Kristjan Kumar (Slovenia) 0:02:40
38 Piet Allegaert (Belgium)
39 Nikolay Cherkasov (Russian Federation) 0:03:34
41 Stef Krul (Netherlands) 0:03:57
42 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Belgium)
43 David Rivière (France)
44 Rémy Rochas (France) 0:03:59
45 Yonas Tekeste Haile (Eritrea)
46 William Barta (United States Of America)
47 Alex Aranburu (Spain)
48 Kristian Aasvold (Norway)
49 Patrick Müller (Switzerland)
50 Mathias Van Gompel (Belgium)
51 Julien Van Den Brande (Belgium)
52 Yerlan Pernebekov (Kazakhstan)
53 Jhonatan Casillas (Mexico)
54 Gregely Varró (Hungary)
55 Stylianos Farantakis (Greece) 0:04:05
56 Seid Lizde (Italy) 0:04:07
57 Adrian Auerbacher (Germany) 0:04:14
58 Andrej Petrovski (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) 0:05:48
59 Marco König (Germany) 0:06:11
60 Juraj Bellan (Slovakia)
61 Ryan Cavanagh (Australia)
62 Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg)
63 Amanuel Mengis Ghebreindrias (Eritrea) 0:06:17
64 Elie Gesbert (France) 0:06:31
65 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spain) 0:06:36
66 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kazakhstan)
67 Zeke Mostov (United States Of America)
68 Pontus Kastemyr (Sweden) 0:06:38
69 Davy Gunst (Netherlands) 0:07:00
70 Gustav Höög (Sweden)
71 Abderrahmane Bechlagheme (Algeria)
72 Marius Sylta (Norway)
73 Jonas Gregaard (Denmark)
74 Mykyta Zubenko (Ukraine)
75 Áquila Roux (Brazil) 0:07:54
76 Gaspar Gonçalves (Portugal) 0:09:04
77 Thomas Terrettaz (Switzerland) 0:09:10
78 David Ribeiro (Portugal) 0:09:45
79 Lennard Kämna (Germany)
80 Michael Svendgaard (Denmark) 0:10:17
81 Aleksandr Komin (Russian Federation)
82 Petter Theodorsen (Norway)
83 Magnus Klaris (Denmark)
84 Martin Schäppi (Switzerland)
85 Michal Paluta (Poland)
86 Andrejs Podans (Latvia)
87 Pita Cristian David (Ecuador)
88 Stepan Kurianov (Russian Federation)
89 Matias Arriagada (Chile)
90 Stepan Kochurov (Russian Federation)
91 Gordian Banzer (Liechtenstein)
92 Vladislav Galyanov (Uzbekistan)
93 Ekke-Kaur Vosman (Estonia)
94 Dzmitry Zhyhunou (Belarus)
95 David Per (Slovenia)
96 Onur Balkan (Turkey)
97 Mario Stock (Austria)
98 Eduardo Estrada (Colombia)
99 Yam Poliak (Israel)
100 Ryan Felgate (South Africa)
101 Juan Camacho Del Fresno (Spain)
102 Jaap De Jong (Netherlands)
103 Hampus Anderberg (Sweden) 0:10:50
104 William Elliott (Canada) 0:11:01
105 Dmitriy Rive (Kazakhstan) 0:11:33
106 Saya Kuroeda (Japan) 0:12:25
107 Linas Rumšas (Lithuania)
108 Uladzimir Gorohovik (Belarus) 0:12:28
109 Larry Valvasori (Luxembourg)
110 Abderrahmane Mansouri (Algeria) 0:12:31
111 Rémi Aubert (France) 0:12:35
112 Aurélien Paret-Peintre (France)
113 Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic)
114 Lukas Schlemmer (Austria) 0:13:14
115 Florian Schipflinger (Austria)
116 Matthew Gibson (Great Britain) 0:13:17
117 James Knox (Great Britain) 0:13:22
118 Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain)
119 Mateusz Kazimierczak (Poland) 0:13:27
120 Eric Süßemilch (Germany)
121 Atsushi Oka (Japan) 0:14:46
122 Vasili Strokov (Belarus) 0:14:51
123 János Pelikán (Hungary) 0:14:55
124 Brent Luyckx (Belgium) 0:15:02
125 Ayden Toovey (Australia)
126 Mathias Rask Jeppesen (Denmark)
127 Ben Ganon (Israel) 0:15:05
128 Luc Turchi (Luxembourg) 0:17:30
129 Edward Dunbar (Ireland) 0:17:44
DNF Vladimir Cludin (Republic of Moldova)
DNF Omer Goldstein (Israel)
DNF Karlis Jirgensons (Latvia)
DNF Elgun Alizada (Azerbaijan)
DNF Dániel Móricz (Hungary)
DNF Sean Mackinnon (Canada)
DNF Adam Jamieson (Canada)
DNF Adhanom Zemekael (Eritrea)
DNF Balázs Rózsa (Hungary)
DNF Maksim Nidodirov (Belarus)
DNF Vlad Dobre (Romania)
DNF Petr Fiala (Czech Republic)
DNF Tomas Harag (Slovakia)
DNF Jairo Lopez (Mexico)
DNF Kwong Lau (Hong Kong, China)
DNF Chris Jooste (South Africa)
DNF Lucas Motta (Brazil)
DNF Martin Duben (Slovakia)
DNF Adrian Dumitru Zamfir (Romania)
DNF Raivis Sarkans (Latvia)
DNF Luka Kotur SRB
DNF Husnudin Hakimov (Uzbekistan)
DNF Lucian Buga (Romania)
DNF Grigoriy Shtein (Kazakhstan)
DNF Axel Journiaux (France)
DNF Abdelghani Fellah (Algeria)
DNF Federico Olei (San Marino)
DNF César Martingil (Portugal)
DNF Facundo Crisafulli (Argentina)
DNF Alexander Wachter (Austria)
DNF Domen Novak (Slovenia)
DNF Ridion Kopshti (Albania)
DNF Mark Downey (Ireland)
DNF Marco-Tapio Niemi (Finland)
DNF Miguel Bryon (United States Of America)
DNF Justin Oien (United States Of America)
DNF Dylan Foley (Ireland)
DNF Kota Yokoyama (Japan)
DNF Cristofer Jurado (Panama)
DNF Ivan Venter (South Africa)
DNF Hendrik Pineda (Canada)
DNF Félix Lapointe (Canada)
DNF Andrei Covalciuc (Republic of Moldova)
DNF Svetikas Gintaras (Lithuania)
DNF Andrea Maccagli (San Marino)
DNF Martynas Stasikelis (Lithuania)
DNF Patryk Krzywda (Poland)
DNF Sapar Serdarov (Turkmenistan)
DNF Sergey Medvedev (Uzbekistan)
DNF Andrei Grigoriev (Republic of Moldova)
DNF German Nicolas Tivani Perez (Argentina)
DNF Fethi Acar (Turkey)
DNF Enes Talha Ay (Turkey)
DNF Nako Georgiev (Bulgaria)
DNF Cristian Cornejo (Chile)
DNF Zoheir Benyoub (Algeria)
DNF Hichem Amari (Algeria)
DNF Kristoffer Halvorsen (Norway)
DNF Martijn Budding (Netherlands)
DNF Nijat Niftaliyev (Azerbaijan)
DNF Eno Rrucaj (Albania)
DNF Zahar Slugin (Turkmenistan)
DNF Carlo Noia (San Marino)
DNF Ziga Rucigaj (Slovenia)
DNF Santiago Quiroga (Argentina)
DNF Filip Cengic (Croatia)
