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The UCI Road World Championship is the year world championship for bicycle road racing and is organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale. This year’s event will take place from September 22 to 29, 2019 in Harrogate in the United Kingdom. It is the 4th UCI Road World Championship to be staged in England and the 92nd edition of the competition overall.
The UCI Road World championship consists of several events. These are the road race, individual time trial and team time trial. For this article, we will talk about the Road Race and pick our winner.
Last year, Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde won this race with Frenchman Romain Bardet finishing second and Canadian Michael Woods taking home the bronze medal. This year, Dutch cyclist Mathieu Van Der Poel is the favorite to win the race in England. The men’s Elite Road Race is the highlight of the event and will be staged on September 29, 2019. The race will start at Leeds and will cover a total distance of 280 km across divided into seven laps.
Here are the cycling betting odds to win the UCI Road Race World Championship. Odds were taken from William Hill as of 9/8/19:
| Cyclist | Odds |
|---|---|
| Mathieu Van Der Poel | +250 |
| Peter Sagan | +400 |
| Julian Alaphilippe | +650 |
| Michael Matthews | +1500 |
| Remco Evenpoel | +1500 |
| Matteo Trentin | +1800 |
| Greg Van Amarmaet | +2200 |
| Michal Kwiatkowski | +2500 |
| Philippe Gilbert | +2500 |
| Alejandro Valverde | +2800 |
| Simon Yates | +3300 |
| Tim Wellens | +3300 |
| Alexey Lutsenko | +3600 |
| Jakob Fuglsang | +3600 |
| Matej Mohoric | +3600 |
| Maximilian Schachmann | +4000 |
| Edvald Boasson Hagen | +5000 |
| Primoz Roglic | +5000 |
Who are the Favorites?
Mathieu Van Der Poel is a Dutch rider for team UCI Professional Continental team Corendon-Circus. The 24-year old from Belgium is best known for winning the Cyclo-cross World Championship twice, in 2015 in Tabor and this year in Bogense. Van der Poel also won the 2018 Dutch National Road Race Championships and the 2019 versions of the Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race. The Dutchman also placed 4th in the 2019 Tour of Flanders.
Peter Sagan is one of the most accomplished cyclists today. The 29-year-old Slovak won this race three straight times from 2015 to 2017. He also won the one day European Road Race Championships in 2016, The National Road Race championship from 2011-2015 and in 2018. Sagan also won the Tour of Flanders in 2016 and the Paris de Roubaix in 2018 plus many more classics races.
Julian Alaphilippe races for UCI team Quick-Step. This 27-year old from France is the brother of cyclist Bryan Alaphilippe and was the King of the Mountains of the 2018 Tour de France after winning the Mountains Classification category in the said race. Alaphilippe has won several one-day races this year including the Milan-San Remo, La Fleche Wallone ( back to back wins) and the Strade Bianche. Alaphilippe also won the Clasica de San Sebastian in 2018.
Michael Matthews is a cyclist from UCI team Sunweb and hails from Australia. The 28-year old from Canberra won the Points Qualification category at the 2017 Tour de France and has stage wins in the Giro d’Italia (4), Vuelta a Espana (3) and Tour de France (2). When it comes to one-day races, Matthews won the GP de Quebec and GP de Montreal in 2018. In 2012, he also won the Clasica del Almeria.
Remco Evenpoel is Michael Matthews’ teammate at UCI Team Sunweb. The 19-year old Belgian is the son of former professional cyclist Patrick Evenpoel who skipped the Under-23 ranks to join UCI team Sunweb this year. He won a stage at the 2019 Tour of Belgium and won the 2019 European Time Trial Championships plus the 2019 Clasica de San Sebastian, both one-day races.
Who Wins?
Michael Mattews is having a fine 2019. The Aussie won two stages at the Tour de France, had a podium finish at the Grand Prix de Quebec and won gold in the world team time trial. He’s riding tremendously this season and couldn’t be overlooked in a one-day race like this. Wearing the colors of Australia, he is also a good pick to win this race. Likewise, the Belgian contingent led by Greg Van Avermaet boasts of the strongest contingent while Peter Sagan is always a threat to win this race. However, there is one rider that I fancy in this race.
Julian Alaphilippe has earned a reputation as one of the best one-day cyclists since turning professional in 2014. He is a yearly contender to win the Liege-Baston-Liege and the La Fleche Wallone which he won twice. A cycling crash prevented him from the 2019 Tour de France but he had a strong outing at 2019 Vuelta a Espana. Alaphilippe’s stage win there impressed his team director Cyril Guimard who later named Alaphilippe as the leader of the nine-man French contingent in Bergen. Because of that, I expect Alaphilippe to be in the mix if there is a breakaway in the final lap of this race. Prediction: Julian Alaphilippe
