Belgium’s national couch, Carlo Bomans, travelled to Offida, Italy, to preview the Junior World Championships course Friday. His goal is simple, help recent Paris-Roubaix winner Jasper Stuyven defend his rainbow jersey August 8.
Bomans drove the 16-kilometre circuit and filmed every metre. The former professional then parked his car and rode the circuit on his bike.
“The circuit is very hard, more than in Moscow [last year], and making matters worse is that the temperatures in Offida in August will be very high.
“There are no special tactics to follow for the road race, at least in the early laps. There will be a natural selection and there will be at the most only three or four riders at the front for the last lap. The attacking points are in the last kilometres and on the climb.”
The circuit has around 310 metres of climbing. The junior men will repeat it eight times to equal 160 kilometres. The women will race it five times, or 80 kilometres.
“This course is suited to riders that climb well. We Belgians have a competitive team and we will aim to repeat our gold medal from Moscow, maybe even with Stuyven.”
Stuyven won the junior Paris-Roubaix in his rainbow jersey three hours before Fabian Cancellara won the professional version in April. Stuyven beat Brit Daniel McLay and American Lawson Craddock.
At the 2009 Worlds in Moscow, he won ahead of France’s Arnaud Demare.
The 2010 time trial courses both end in Offida with a slight climb. The women start in Acquaviva Picena and race 15.1 kilometres. The men start Offida and face 200 metres of climbing. The course then merges with the women’s course and ends in Offida after 28.5 kilometres.
“The time trial course is technical and nervous, in particular the men’s race due to the distance and the climb mid-way in.”
The junior track championships run the following week, August 11 to 15, at Italy’s new velodrome in Montichiari.
Bomans raced 13 years professional and was Belgian champion in 1989. His last race win was the 1996 E3 Prijs, when he race with Italian team Mapei GB.