Let's go to Italy!

UCI Road World Championships

That's the long name, the short punchy name is Toscana 2013. We'd  better get on the plane now because the ship has already left port and docked for the time trial races. At this point I won't feel bad for reporting who won those races because that is old (although good) news:

Results - 2013 World Championships  

World Champion Time Trial Elite Men: Tony Martin (GER)
INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL ELITE MEN

World Champion Time Trial Elite Women: Ellen Van Dijk (NED)
INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL ELITE WOMEN

World Champion Time Trial U23 Mens: Damien Howson (AUS)
INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL UNDER 23

World Champion Time Trial Junior Mens: Igor Decraene (BEL)
INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL JUNIOR MEN 

World Champion Time Trial Junior Womens: Eraud Severine (FRA)
INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL JUNIOR WOMEN

World Champions Team Time Trial Mens: Omega Pharma-Quickstep (BEL)
TEAM TIME TRIAL ELITE MEN
 
World Champions Team Time Trial Women: Specialized - Lululemon (USA)
TEAM TIME TRIAL ELITE WOMEN

World Champion Road Junior Women: Amalie Diderikson (DEN)
ROAD RACE JUNIOR WOMEN

World Champion Road U23: Matej Mohoric (SLO)
ROAD RACE UNDER 23 

TOMORROW Saturday 28 September, we will get to watch:

ROAD RACE JUNIOR MEN
ROAD RACE ELITE WOMEN (results)

FINAL DAY Sunday 29 September, we will get to watch:

ROAD RACE ELITE MEN (results) (report)

Now where is all this happening? - in Tuscany, Italy!

Racing from Lucca to Florence in magnificent Tuscany, Italy.

The elite mens road race on Sunday will race just over 100km from the charming town of Luca to the major historical city of Florence (Firenze), where the riders will complete 10 circuit laps, totaling 272.2km by the time it is all over. Route maps.

There are two climbs on route before reaching the circuit course in Florence which has two climbs. The first climb is Montecarlo averaging 3.5% with a maximum grade of 9%. The second climb is San Baronto averaging 7.1% with a maximum grade of 11%. The repetitive circuits should make or break the race. And the rain, rain, rain.

Race from Luca to Florence and add 10 circuit laps

2013 World Road Championships route map

About the race

The Mens Elite Road Race will begin at 10:00:00 on Sunday, September 29th in Lucca, Italy. Lap #1 begins at kilometer 106,56 inside the city of Florence at approximately 12:30pm. 10 laps will be completed with an estimated finish time (after 272,26 km total) estimated to be between 16:45-17:28pm. Coverage online in the USA should begin at approximately 12:40h CEST (4:40:00 AM MDT).

Full rider startlists by country for the remaining races at the World Championships may be found here. Race timetable here.

#1 on the startlist is Philippe Gilbert - defending World Champion and a favorite of mine (although a long-shot for Sunday, but you never know). I am also a huge fan of Edvald Boasson Hagen, Greg Van Avermaet and Mark Cavendish, but this might be a Vincenzo Nibali or Richie Porte kind of course. And then there is Peter Sagan - the perfect climber / sprinter package, but his season started a long time ago and I am not sure he still has full gas in the tank. 

I pick an all-rounder/ climber who can spike his heart-rate and power repeatedly, recover rapidly in order to hang in the lead group out of trouble, reserve enough for when the pace really goes up on the last two circuit laps when the riders who are tired from recent races will be spit out the back, and then sprint past all the others for the finish line. Mostly he has to have an all out desire to win.

Philippe Gilbert  Photo © by Mike Rakestraw for Pedal Dancer®

Representing the United States at Worlds will be:

BUSCHE Matthew #70

HORNER Christopher #71

HOWES Alex #72

PHINNEY Taylor #73

STETINA Peter #74

TALANSKY Andrew #75

VAN GARDEREN Tejay #76

Great Britain has a very strong team:

CAVENDISH Mark #35

CUMMINGS Stephen #36

EDMONDSON Joshua #37

FROOME Christopher #38

ROWE Luke #39

STANNARD Ian #40

THOMAS Geraint #41

WIGGINS Bradley #42

And of course we must look at the Italians in Italy:

NIBALI Vincenzo #17

NOCENTINI Rinaldo #18

PAOLINI Luca #19

POZZATO Filippo #20

SANTAROMITA Ivan #21

SCARPONI Michele #22

ULISSI Diego #23

VANOTTI Alessandro #24

VISCONTI Giovanni #25

Who will win?

You have to understand the course very well to predict who will win Worlds. Plus factor in recent races and results for each of the riders. Lots of good previews and guesses are out there, but I am going to go solely with Cycling Tips because he has an outstanding record in predicting the winner, and laying out an excellent preview:

Read: 2013 UCI World Championship Road Race preview, by Cycling Tips

The most exciting thing for me about Worlds is that the riders get to ride for country and not team (except for the team time trial). Maybe it is time at this point, to look back at this post I wrote in 2012 about World Champion Jerseys which shows the jerseys, medals and emblems awarded to the winners of the various disciplines.

The small Team Time Trial emblem on team OPQS jersey will be worm throughout the year by all team members.

I noticed that 9 out of the last 12 men who stood on the podium at the World Road Race in the past four years will again be competing against each other this Sunday (Davis, Goss and Greipel are not on this year's startlist). 42 of the top 50 ranked cyclists in the world will compete, the competition will be tough and unpredictable.

Recent Results: 

• 2009 - Location: Switzerland - Mendrisio - 262km

1. EVANS Cadel (AUS)

2. KOLOBNEV Alexandr (RUS)

3. RODRIGUEZ Joaquin (ESP)

• 2010 - Location: Australia - Melbourne - 257km

1. HUSHOVD Thor (NOR)

2. BRESCHEL Matti (DEN)

3. DAVIS Allan (AUS)

• 2011 - Location: Denmark - Copenaghen - 266km

1. CAVENDISH Mark (GBR)

2. GOSS Matthew (AUS)

3. GREIPEL Andre (GER)

• 2012 - Location: Netherlands - Valkenburg - 267Km

1. GILBERT Philippe (BEL)

2. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald (NOR)

3. VALVERDE Alejandro (ESP)

Full historical results since 1927, for the World Championships, may be found here. 
 
Worlds in 2014

The UCI World Championships in 2014 will be held in Ponferrada, Spain (13-21 September. 2014).

Watch the Race

To watch the action of the final days of World Championships LIVE online or on TV, check out the list of options at this link at Steephill.TV, which also offers this link: Men's Road Race Flythrough (01:47 English) — gcn

Circuits in the city of Florence

circuit profile and map (cut off at the edges)

Location of circuit route area after traveling through downtown Florence and the major tourist area.

Italy - a wonderful place to travel!

Now let's look at some photos from my trip to Florence last year (and other years), and oh how I wish I traveled to Italy this year to see Worlds! All photos by Karen Rakestraw at Pedal Dancer®

Florence (Firenze)

The Italian light is breathtaking

A magnificent city

Florence is a city of art

The landmark Ponte Vecchio at night

Duomo at night

Duomo at day

Santa Croce at night under a full moon

i due Fratellini - a delicious sandwich and wine "dispensary" in Florence

A visit to the local enoteca for some wine

Grom gelato, so delicious

A 10 foot squared space packed full of goodness

Spectacular views across the city of Florence

Ponte Vecchio in the day

 A copy of David outside the Uffizi gallery in the Piazza della Signoria

A nice place to sit outside at a cafe and have an espresso on the Palazzo Vecchio

It just looks so Italian

Visiting my niece Kristina, who studied Architecture in Florence for a year.

I also went cycling in Tuscany a number of years ago with a tour group led by a friend, it was wonderful! In between visits to Florence and Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano, and so many other big and small towns, we pedaled our bikes for miles, drank wine, cooked and ate delicious food and generally enjoyed each others company and the magnificent Italian scenery.

Bike Tour Companies in Italy

Velo Classic Tours, Thomson Bike Tours, Marty Jemison Tours, Cinghiale Tours, Ciclismo Classico, Trek Travel, Saddle Skedaddle, Womens Quest, VBT, Duvine, Adventure Travel Group, and many small local operators who are sometimes wonderful.

Cycling in Tuscany

Here we are cycling to yet another hilltop village in Tuscany

We took cooking lessons as well on this cycling trip - it was a blast.

Took a ferry out to cycle on the Island of Albi

And drank a lot of wine and laughed a lot while enjoying the views and perfect weather

I love Tuscany, Italy!

Villages, cities or regions definitely worth visiting in Tuscany:

• Florence (shopping and museums)
• Sienna (with its Piazza del Campo)
• Pisa (the Leaning Tower of Pisa)
• Lucca (Mario Cipollini's home town)
• Cortona (take a walk)
• San Gimignano (interesting towers)
• Chianti Classico Wine Region
• Montepulciano
• Pienza and Val d'Orcia
• Montencatini Terme
• Volterra (ride your bike up the steep hill to the piazza)
• Val di Chiana
• Montalcino (with its Enoteca la Fortezza)

Popular tourist sites in Florence

• Galleria degli Uffizi
• Museo Nazionale del Bargello 
• Gallerie Dell'Accademia (Michelangelo's David)
• Museo Galileo 
• Il Duomo
• The Baptistery
• Campanile Bell Tower
• Ponte Vecchio 
• Giardino di Boboli and Pitti Palace
• Santa Croce
• Piazza della Signoria
• Palazzo Vecchio 

Related reading by Pedal Dancer®:
Only 61 Riders Completed Worlds
Recommended Viewing: One Wet Worlds

Amgen Tour of California - Stage 8 Results, final

Results Stage 8

The last and final stage of the Tour of California ended this past Sunday. Peter Sagan took the stage win securing his 4th green jersey win at the ATOC. Tejay van Garderen won the overall Leaders yellow jersey. There was little change in the general classification in the last stages of the tour this year, but the individual stage wins were still exciting, with a good variety of teams and countries represented:

2013 Stage winners:

Stage 1: Lieuwe Westra, (the Netherlands), Vancansoleil
Stage 2: Janier Acevedo (Columbia), Jamis
Stage 3: Peter Sagan, (Slovakia), Cannondale
Stage 4: Tyler Farrar (USA), Garmin-Sharp
Stage 5: Jens Voigt (Germany), RadioShack Leopard Trek
Stage 6: Tejay van Garderen (USA), BMC
Stage 7: Leopold König (Czechoslovakia), Net-App Endura
Stage 8: Peter Sagan, (Slovakia), Cannondale

This was the year of 8s at the Amgen Tour of California. The race's 8th year, 8 stages, 8 riders on each team, BMC won the best team classification by just over 8 minutes, and Jason McCartney was awarded the Most Courageous Rider jersey for being the only rider to have ridden in, and completed, all 8 previous Tour of California races.

Stage 8 winner  
Peter Sagan (SVK), Cannondale Pro Cycling

Stage 8 Podium in San Jose

1. Peter Sagan (SVK), Cannondale Pro Cycling
2. Daniel Schorn (AUT), Team NetApp-Endura
3. Tyler Farrar (USA), Team Garmin-Sharp

General Classification (yellow)
Tejay van Garderen (USA), BMC Racing Team

Sprint Classification (green)
Peter Sagan (SVK), Cannondale Pro Cycling

KOM Classification (polka dot)
Carter Jones (USA), BISSELL Pro Cycling - his 6th stage!

Best Young Rider (white)
Lawson Craddock (USA), Bontrager Cycling Team

Amgen Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider
Jason McCartney (USA), BISSELL Pro Cycling Team

Team Classification
BMC Racing Team - took over the lead in the Team Classification.

Top 10 General Classification Stage 8, final standings:

1. Tejay van Garderen, BMC, USA,
2. Michael Rogers, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff, Australia,
3. Janier Acevedo Calle, Jamis, Columbia,
4. Mathias Frank, BMC, Switzerland,
5. Cameron Meyer, Orica-GreenEdge, Australia,
6. Matthew Busche, RadioShack Leopard Trek, USA,
7. Francisco Mancebo Perez, 5-Hour Energy, Spain, 
8. Lawson Craddock, Bontrager, Australia,
9. Philip Deignan, United Healthcare, Ireland,
10. Chad Haga, Optum, USA, 

My top 10 from chasing the tour:

1. Huge numbers of fans turned out in Santa Rosa for Stage 8 (there is hope for the sport).
2. Old man Jens actually won a stage.
3. There are some awesome photographers out there, and the best was a local photographer in Santa Barbara named Michael. 
4. I love California Mexican food.
5. We need an ocean in Colorado.
6. Tejay van Garderen is an impressive competitor.
7. The Stone Brewery in Escondido is one of the most amazing concepts for enjoying a beer that I have seen. And makes a darn good Arrogant Bastard Ale.
8. From beach cruisers to the best Cannondale EVO Supersix - as long as it has two wheels - ride it.
9. Being among the mix of languages and cultures at an international bike race is a cool place to be. 
10. Cycling fans are the best!

*Also, if you want race analysis, just go straight to Joe Lindsey and Frankie Andreu. If you want to know who is going to win a race, go with whomever Tejay van Garderen picks.

Honorable mention: I also hit an all time high this past week for my modest blog with 3,573 visitors in one day. My blog also sailed right by it's landmark 500,000th visit on the final day of ATOC coverage. Thank you! What an incredible 3 years it has been.

I preferred the southern to northern route of the tour this year

The 2013 ATOC went from southern California to northern California for the first time in it's 8-year history.

PHOTOS

Recommended Viewing: Photo albums from team BMC (http://bit.ly/146NEaA)

Before the #Giro resumes, take one more look at the BMC Racing Team's week at the @amgentourofcali. bit.ly/146NEaA
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) May 21, 2013

Also read a blog post (with photos) by Michael Schaer (BMC) in focus: Michael Schaer

More photos from the tour - from Willie Reichenstein

Looking back at a week of racing; tonight we are looking at the photography of Willie Reichenstein who helped me photograph the tour. Willie and I would sometimes be at the start together, then take off in different directions, Willie out on the route to key climbs or to the KOM points. I would be at the finish, or on one day at a sprint points location. Willie's hard work (and good mood) added much to my week. Willie also likes beer and took me to the Stone Brewery in Escondido (fantastic gardens and beer). I also enjoyed a beer tasting night with Willie and his wife at their home, at weeks end, to share stories and photos.

Working along with another photographer gives life to my storytelling at the race and throughout the year. Many thanks to Willie for adding so much to Pedal Dancer® at the 2013 Amgen Tour of California. I am now looking for a sidekick for travel and chasing the race at the USA Pro Challenge. I have learned that it takes two to plan stage coverage and go over maps (and find the Media signs), to keep up with the race and news (and Social Media), to photograph so much activity (and upload photos), and to research the upcoming stage (even though it all changes anyway). Mostly it is just fun to be able to share the excitement of being at a bike race, play tourist, and meet lots of enthusiastic fans.

Anyone with me for Colorado August 2013? Anyone want to do Colorado August 2013 for me? Because after the Tour of California this year, I might just leave great enough alone. How could I top this week?!

Photos Stage 1

Peloton on the road during Stage 1. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer® 

Jens Voigt wearing #1 had returned once again to California. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The hawk that Jens Voigt frequently referred to which soared along with Jensie across the hills of San Diego county.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The arid landscape of Southern California and the roads of Stage 1. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Fans having fun with an original form of road chalk art.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Orica Green Edge gives the thumbs up to fans even in the high heat of the day.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The Pro Continental teams played a big roll in this years tour - Bissell, Net-App, Optum, and 5-Hour Energy. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The peloton is coming...  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The peloton has arrived. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Chasing a champion. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The many colors of Trek (and the fad for brightly colored frames). ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The impressive expanding team bus of Garmin-Sharp. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

BMC team cars made a strong presence along the race route. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

It was a week of the best fastest bikes on the market. This is Sylvain Chavanel's bike.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Photos Stage 2

Carter Jones, (who stayed in the polka-dot jersey all week) signs in with his Bissell teammates. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

The typical high-activity on the sign-in stage at each stage start. Dave Towle the announcer, Patrick Demsey, podium girls, riders, and photographers. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Two McDreamys: Actor Patrick Demsey and Sprinter Peter Sagan.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Sylvain Chavanel  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Brad Sohner interviewing James Stemper and Tejay waiting for his turn with Dave Towle. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

SRAM moto - a long way to travel with only a couple wheels, I guess they matter. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Sometimes the peloton is just a blur of color, but look closely. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Until the effortful breakaway stays clear.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Stage 2 was a hot uzippered kind of day for the peloton.  ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

But an air conditioned kind of day for those inside the team cars. ©Photo by Willie Reichenstein at Pedal Dancer®

Looking back at Pedal Dancer at the race

Pedal Dancer Cruisin' California fan travel series and daily Results from the 2013 Tour of California. A full week of covering the race is complete. 

Pedal Dancer Stage 1 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 1 Results
Pedal Dancer Stage 1 highlights: California Cruisin' - Stage 1, Tour of California
Pedal Dancer Stage 2 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 2 Results
Pedal Dancer Stage 2 highlights: California Cruisin' - Stage 2, Tour of California
Pedal Dancer Stage 3 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 3 Results
Pedal Dancer Stage 3 highlights: California Cruisin' - Stage 3, Tour of California
Pedal Dancer Stage 4 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 4 Results
Pedal Dancer Stage 4 highlights: California Cruisin' - Stage 4, Tour of California
Pedal Dancer Stage 5 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 5 results
Pedal Dancer Stage 5 highlights: California Cruisin' - Stage 5, Tour of California
Pedal Dancer Stage 6 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 6 results
Pedal Dancer Stage 7 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 7 Results
Pedal Dancer Stage 8 results: Amgen Tour of California - Stage 8 Results, final

Interest topics are next, until coverage of the 2013 Tour de France commences. I will be posting my annual Legs of the Tour post soon, one about young team Bontrager, another about the incredible volunteers, and one about who to select for your fantasy team for the 2013 Tour de France. 

Thank you for chasing the ATOC along with me.