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ByEurosport
Published 03/10/2004 at 08:04 GMT
It's the end of the rainbow for Igor Astarloa (ESP), as the outgoing world champ puts his jersey on the line in these Verona-hosted World Championships. The Elite Men's road race, 265.5 km long, 55 of which are all uphill. It's a humdinger of a course --
2004 is a repeat World's performance for Verona, which also hosted the festivities in 1999, a year crowned by the road-race win of Spaniard Oscar Freire.
Freire is here for the 2004 rainbow-jersey hunt, shouldered by a strong Spanish contingent that includes defending road-race champion Igor Astarloa, Alejandro Valverde and Tour de France stage winner Juan Antonio Flecha.
The majority of the pro peloton's high-octane names are in attendance, with the glaring exception of American Lance Armstrong, who put a close to his 2004 season in the weeks after winning a sixth consecutive Tour de France in July.
German uber-hope Jan Ullrich was scheduled for a Worlds appearance, but the 30-year-old scratched in both the time-trial and the road race due to illness.
"I could barely climb the stairs at my home," the exhausted 1997 Tour de France champ said recently of his health, perhaps wisely bypassing a road race course that will count 55 km of climbing after 18 turns on the 3.1 km long Torricelle climb.
Serpentine and twitchy, the Verona road course traces 14.75 km multiplied by 18 laps for a total of 266.5 km. The route is a leg-searing procession of roller-coaster terrain and, of course, the Torricelle, which will take on Everest proportions on the final laps.
And the fabulous favourites are: Athens Olympic champ Paolo Bettini (ITA), Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), Oscar Freire (ESP), Damiano Cunego (ITA), defending champ Igor Astarloa (ESP), Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Michael Boogerd (NED), Peter Van Petegem (BEL), Stuart O'Grady (AUS).
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