Glasgow plays host to the 2018 European Championships in August, but the routes for the road race and time trial were announced earlier this week. Just what will the riders face, and what will the watching spectators see in the way of sights?
Background
2018 is the third year to have the Elite riders competing, and the first time that they have separate championships; the juniors and under-23s are hived off to their own event in Olomouc, Czech Republic this year.
Ellen Van Dijk is going for a hat-trick of wins, and the Dutch will be looking to keep up a strong record. Anna van der Breggen has a silver and bronze, with the only other nations muscling in on the medals being Belgium (Ann-Sophie Duyck with silver last year) and Russia (bronze for Olga Zabelinskaya in 2016).
The route
It’s a 34-kilometer test for the women, with the same start as the men, setting off from the Riverside Museum on Sunday 5 August. The riders head north-east, with a long drag along Byres Road and then the ‘Gardener’s Turn’ which takes the riders along Great Western Road past the Botanic Gardens and Kew Terrace, and up into Bearsden.
It’s a right-turn just before Milngavie, and east along Auchenhowie Road, then another turn takes them south at Torrance, down Kirkintilloch Road and into Bishopbriggs and Springburn. Finally, into the City Centre again, skirting the Cathedral, George Square and the historic High Street before finishing on Glasgow Green.
The profile is spiky; lots of sharp rises although there are no particularly high points, it’s another constantly up/down route. It actually looks worse than the men’s profile. Getting into a rhythm will be hard, and the course favours someone who can just blast through the pain.
Contenders
It’s not difficult to predict that the medal challengers aren’t likely to be radically different to those in the last two years. Van Dijk, van der Breggen, Duyck, Zabelinskaya.
If Annemiek Van Vleuten goes, then the world champion will be there. Austria’s Martina Ritter could be an outsider, and British hopes might well be pinned on Claire Rose.