Much of the conversation over the next week will be who's going to Stuttgart for the World Championships beginning a week from today with the U23 Time Trial. Stories about frustrated riders like Daniele Bennati being left off their national team will pop up here and there. So I thought it would be a good time to load some images from the Worlds road course, to provide a little context on why, say, a sprinter might not get much attention from his national squad.
So here's the road course. Elite men do 14 laps:
Here are the three principle climbs from each lap, in order: the Herdweg, an adorable little ramp of 0.6km hitting 17% grades; the Birkenkopf, which maxes at 8% in its 1.2km; and the Zielenstieg, 2.8km on a gentle grade.
