It will be hard to regain position at the front of the bunch and with so many corners, riders who find themselves sprinting out of corners from the back of the peloton will waste energy that they could have used in the finale. In the end, we expect the race to come down to which teams and riders are able to conserve as much energy as possible on these 10 tricky downtown circuits. Whether or not the climb is long enough to create any meaningful selections remains to be seen. The riders crest this “ramp” less than 2km from the finish line, making it the strategic focal point of the finale and the logical launchpad for riders hoping to escape the bunch late in the race. There’s just one climb–Montrose Street–a 200m ascent with an average gradient of 10.8 percent gradient and a pitch that hits out at 14 percent near the middle of the climb. It’s not a particularly difficult circuit in terms of elevation gain. It’s an extremely technical circuit, one filled with tight roads, lots of corners, some speed bumps, and even a few short sections of (decorative) cobbles. It’s just 5.8km long and has an average gradient of a measly 4.5 percent, so it won’t do much damage.īut as is always the case in a world championship road race, the race will be decided on the 14.3km circuit through downtown Glasgow, which the riders will cover 10 times. The toughest of these is the climb up and over Crow Road, 96km into the race. The race begins in Edinburgh and then winds its way west to Glasgow via a 120km route that takes them across the Firth of Forth (an estuary formed by several Scottish rivers) and into some hills north of Glasgow. The elite men will race a total of 271km, making this one of the longest one-day races of the season. Here’s a run-down of everything you need to know: The Route

The women’s elite road race is scheduled for a week later on Sunday, August 13.

But while we enjoy watching the sport’s future champions fight to win their own rainbow jerseys, it’s the elite races that we really get excited about, starting with Sunday’s elite men’s event. The road events begin on Saturday, August 5 with the men’s and women’s junior road races. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play

Professional circuit racer