Florence, in a uniquely beautiful setting, is preparing this Sunday to crown the 2013 road world champion, after Wednesday celebrating the prestigious trio of the German Tony Martin in the individual time trial. The bookmakers say Fabian Cancellara, winner of Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, bronze medal in the time trial behind Martin and Bradley Wiggins.
In the predictions immediately after the Vizzero – quoted by Snai at 1,90 from the exceptional palmarès in which, however, the rainbow jersey on the road is still missing – Peter Sagan, a formidable juggler on a bike, and Philippe Gilbert, the outgoing champion resurrected at the recent Vuelta after a lean year. For those who still have in their eyes how he swept the Tour, Chris Froome must also be counted among the favorites, who aims to revive a pairing -Grande Boucle and world championship- which has been missing in cycling's golden books since 1989, the Greg Lemond's Golden Vintage.
The Italian supporters focus on Vincenzo Nibali, inserted in the top five of the favourites, who has the advantage of racing at home and who has already won the Giro and the Tirreno-Adriatico this year. That of the Spaniards is divided into three having the Iberians in the running three big names of the caliber of Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez. Certainly the 2013 World Championship on the road, 272 km from Lucca to Florence with the last 166 to be raced in a circuit to be repeated 10 times, is a treacherous path and in the end a tough one which leads to excluding pure sprinters from the forecast on the eve, such as Cavendish: the track is made black by two climbs which, by dint of climbing them, will leave their mark on the legs of the athletes, that of Fiesole of 4.370 meters with an average gradient of 5,2%, and that of via Salviati, an authentic wall of 600 meters at 10,2% with surges up to 16%: something similar to last year's world championship in Valkenburg which saw the victory of Gilbert, who with Sagan and Cancellara, is one of the few active riders today capable of impressive progressions in the finals particularly accidents of travel.
The Italian clan, in the retreat of Montecatini, is scrutinizing the sky hoping for the rain which would make the descent of Fiesole particularly difficult and technical before the climb up via Salviati, just 4 km from the finish: it would be an ideal springboard for Nibali who dreams of the world champion to close an amazing season by canceling the disappointment of the Vuelta, suffered at the hands of Chris Horner, the American who at almost 42 years of age has torn everyone up on the very tough ramps of the Spanish race. And Horner, who has defiantly made all the data of his biological passport available to counter the bad tongues about the miraculous potions he has taken, will also be at the start of the World Championship in Florence, leading the American team with Teejay Van Garderen. Cancellara's partner in Radio-Shack, there are already those who take for granted a running alliance with the Swiss champion who, like Sagan, doesn't have one of the strongest national teams. But Cancellara like the Slovak, spectacular in the recent Montreal GP, are also used to going it alone.
Opposite problem in the Spanish home where the difficulty will be to combine team interests with the personal ambitions of established champions such as Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez not to mention Samuel Sanchez: all four with zero in the box of victories in a world championship. On the British front, it will be curious to see to what extent Cavendish and above all Wiggins will help Froome to conquer the top step of the podium. On which, taking advantage of any exaggerated tactics on the part of the big names, even riders who have all the qualities to carry out the great enterprise could climb such as the Norwegian Boasson Hagen, the Portuguese Rui Costa and the Colombian Quintana.
While waiting for Florence to crown the new world champion, the UCI crowned its new president, the British Brian Cookson, who defeated the outgoing one, the Australian Pat Mc Quaid. A victory that Lance Armstrong, the great purge, greeted via Twitter with one word: "Hallelujah". A cry of joy from the Texan who now hopes that Cookson will put into practice his intentions to promote an amnesty in favor of doping repentants with a possible reduction of sanctions. An opening – always denied by McQuaid – through which Armstrong hopes to get his hands back, at least in part, on his yellow shirts.
