So, Gualdi just getting a little bit of water, pouring it over himself. It is getting more intense the weather this afternoon after last night it rained. It meant that it was a little bit fresher this morning, but now you’re getting that intensity of heat and the altitude and everything combined. the more dense air that there is that we’ve been experiencing over the last few days. So, Janice Walton at the back. Oh, little bit of a wobble on that bike. That didn’t look quite right. Why? But his bike was kind of moving around underneath him there. Just heard on radio tour an announcement to remind everybody to not throw bottles outside feed zones because I’ve seen a couple being thrown and gels being thrown and it’s not a done thing particularly in Rwanda. So they’ve uh just put a warning out to stop that happening. I have to say I was impressed that here in Rwanda single use plastic bags are completely banned. You can’t bring them into the country at all. That is a great focus on getting rid of the single-use plastics across the world at least trying to do something in this country. And actually when you look there is no litter around this. Uh I’ve not seen anything at the side of the roads and so many other countries in the world you have to uh you just look and you can see plastic bags and everything. You don’t see them here. And it’s not that this area has been tidied up. That’s how it is. Almost at the bottom of Kaggali Gulf again. Less than two. We’re just about 2 km there till we reach there again. Jonas Walton quite happy to sit on the back with the Slovakian rider just in front of him. Let’s see what sort of damage Kaggali golf does this time. The drumming that’s become so synonymous with these World Championships. You hear it everywhere. Belgium carry on with their pacemaking. I’m just trying to work out what their tactic is this afternoon. Well, they just want to make the race really hard for later on in the race. They’ve obviously decided they need to keep this momentum very very high. They’ve got Jana Weedar who rides for the Lotto team. He’s been in their development team for a little while, but he’s moving to their next level up team. Although there’s lots of rumors about Lotto right now, but he won the Jirro Next Generation in 2024. He’s an incredibly talented bike rider. He also won Valid Aosta two years running. He’s also won the under 23 Leaz Baston, the under 23 Flash Arones. He’s an incredible bike rider and he is potentially Belgium’s winner of today. Yasper Scofs is in there as well though and he is member of the Sudal Quickstep development team. So Yasper Scoops could be another rider. He was he’s finished ninth in Balladosta. He’s won a number of bike races. He just finished fourth in Chrono Challenge Lendela. He rode well in the toer a top 25 place there. He was top 10 in Valadosta and he finished uh all of the other big races of the season. So Yasps is another possibility for today. The Italian team there as Belgium set a very hard tempo. Two of their riders are coming back. Camel Eman bringing back Yano Weedar that we were just talking about. You wonder why Belgium have been riding that hard. Belgium have been riding that hard. Although probably the answer is they didn’t know these two riders are out the back. Wear looks around, little nods, wearing number 16. There he is. Very, very comfortable. Doesn’t seem to be having any issues today with the way he’s riding. Very comfortable as he pedals his way back onto the rear of the Pelaton and his teammates bringing him back. So Camille Eman is going to bring him right to the front of the race. Without the race radios though, the three Belgian riders on the front have no idea that the pace they’re setting is going to make life a little difficult for Yano Weedar this afternoon. Judah Thompson has abandoned for Thailand. It’s got an appropriate number for abandoning. Number 59, Leu of China. That’s a shame for Alle. He was in the breakaway and now he’s abandoned the race. He gave it a shot. He tried to put the UAE on the map by going on the move. I think he got a little bit carried away once he was in that breakaway. Forcing the pace at that time in the race is so difficult, but it was good to see the UAE represented in a breakaway in the World Championships through the feed zone. Riders trying to get as much water on board as they possibly can. Got to be a mix of water and electrolytes for today’s race. So that those electrolytes help with the absorption of the water, not just pure water all the time. But the riders also will be taking some carbs with their in their bottles trying to supplement the gels they’ve got. But in this sort of heat, it’s very very fine line between being a little bit sick after taking so much water, gels, and everything else on board and being absolutely fine. This is Louis Arts number four coming back into the race on the final round. Belgium laid up rides for the lead track future racing team. So he’s in that feeder team into lead track who’ve just of course signed Wanao back of the pelaton number 111 Lauren Slur rider for Uganda still there still sitting in the wheels doing a good job. Louis Lart though 20 years of age from Germany riding for that lead track future racing squads. So he’s got a chance of going into the lead track world tour team if he continues to progress. He’s just ridden to the Lavanir finished second on a stage into Vitri. On that day he was beaten by Elliot Row of Great Britain. Still the palaton led by Belgium this afternoon. If you’d like to get in touch at mccrosen at UCI cycling is where you can get us during these World Championships. This is the Kgali Genocide Memorial. a very important memorial in this region that we’ve seen on a number of different occasions. But each time we see it, it doesn’t uh diminish the need to talk about it and see it. That genocide memorial just about 6 kilometers from where we are right now. It’s a real testament to the courage and unity of the Rwanda people in that unimaginable horror in 1994. And that memorial chronicles the efforts to halt that genocide against the Tootszie. Onto Kimura again. That whole genocide museum is really important. A living memorial honors the bravery of those who fought to save the lives of everybody and the millions who perished during the genocide. A problem at the back for the Algerian rider Usama Muni. And just in front of him is Mustafa Taraki. When you start to feel the pace, you really feel the pace on this course. So still Belgium pushing the tempo of of Algeria going out the back 22 years of age here in this under 23 World Road Race Championship. Oh, and the South African rider is starting to feel this as well. This is Joshua Dyke. He’s not enjoying this climb at all and his teammate is also starting to suffer on the left hand side at the back as well. Warren Mulman is feeling the pace go. And some of the fans enjoying the fact that if you cheer the riders on a bit, they go a little bit quicker and they get themselves back in the race. Almost at the top of the cobbled section for this time we mix the top at 121.9. Oh, big problem here. And chain has got completely caught up. This is Kapatar. And so much time, so many times this happens now, doesn’t it? Where the chain comes off, drops in the middle, completely blocked, and there’s nothing you can do except stop. Still Belgium pushing this tempo. They’ve really taken this on. Is this the right tactic for the afternoon? Our tri is still represented up at the front. Riders now getting to the end of their training for the world championship on Sunday for the men’s road race. This is Alawani of Morocco. He’s lasted a fair time and now he’s getting dropped. And Nepal has just finished his preparation with a distance of 163 kilometers, 4 and 1/2 hour ride. And he’s just said on his uh details of that ride, his log of the ride. Actually, one of the most beautiful training laps I’ve ever done. One of the big bits of news from yesterday for those of you just fans of cycling and watch everything is that the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are going to Durango on the 40th anniversary of the first edition. They’re going there in 2030. Can you imagine how big that’s going to be in Durango Mountain biking? It’s going to be unbelievable. The end of this lap then we’re coming up to complete our next lap and we’ll have eight laps of racing to go. The average speed has been up at around 41.2 and Belgium are the team responsible for making that happen. Eight laps to go, just over an hour of racing covered. to go out of the average speed as we approach here. We’ll take a look at what it’s going to be. Belgium cross the line first at the front of this pelaton of riders. Eight laps of racing to go. The average speed is 41.213 km an hour. And in terms of number of riders who are in the pelaton still at this point in the race, 79 riders remain. So after the end of the first lap was 101. Now we’re on 79. 39 riders are gone. There’s the stats for you on the right hand side. There’s a lot of building going on around this particular area of the course as you’ll see in the background. Seems like there’s a lot of development of this particular area. Here’s a group of riders trying to make their way back into the race having been distant a little while ago. Includes Jonas Walton, the Canadian. Also in here is Joshua Dyke of South Africa. Never give in. You just never know how things might develop. Techley Alameo of Ethiopia on the back. Also in here is number 85. And that’s Mun of Semigall. He’s the rider wearing the the star on the back of the jersey, the red shorts. Amaharo Stadium means peace in Kunyawanda expanded now to 45,000 seats. And this stadium so famous for sheltering thousands of civilians during the genocide of 1994. was used by the United Nations at that particular time. First hour racing, 42.3 kilometers an hour. It’s a fast tempo in this men’s under 23 road race. We’re now at the distance of what we saw the juniors rides earlier on today. We’ve just heard that Samuel Novak of Slovakia has just abandoned the race. And a problem here for the German. And this is Maro Brena. It’s amazing how many riders are dropping chains, isn’t it? So Maro Brena taking an eternity to get this chain back on. And sometimes you just cannot see how it can go back on. Brena gets back in underway. rice for the team of Lotto Kernhouse, national under 23 German champion in 2025. Rode the tour to Lavanir recently but didn’t finish uh stage five into teen. Maro Brena getting going. His brother is Marco Brener. Marco rides for TUDA Pro Cycling. The Italian team riding cohesively in the Pelaton. There we are in the blue jerseys. The team of Spain also seem to be quite locked together. So a Colombia Seems like this race is firing on all cylinders right now. Everybody is pretty much flat out. Still, it is Tim Rex. on the front of this pelaton by this rider just dragging the race out. And another problem here for one of the riders from France. So the Frenchman gets going. It’s a little bit like Maxim Dumba trying to come back. He just checks in his pocket. He’s had a bike change. Just trying to get his computer. And it’s Antoine Lodge who’s coming back into the Pelaton as quickly as he can. As for Decathlon, their development team, but next year he’ll ride for the newly named team of Dathlon CMA CGM. That’s going to be a mouthful during the tour to France, isn’t it? It’s funny though. I didn’t You don’t see CMA CGM anywhere until they name a cycling team. Then you see them everywhere. But Antoine Lot is a useful rider. He won Paris Pir. He’s won the stage of the Olympia tour. He won the overall in the Olympia tour this season. won the points jersey in to Uro and also was the third place rider in the under23 national road race Race Championship. 64 km an hour downhill ourselves into this next turn. 115.4 km of raced remain heading towards Kaggali Gulf and then we’ll make our way back to Kimhura again. Bottom of Kimura this time is 108.1 km of racing to go. Santoan Lot nearly back. Good ride by him on that Van Resil bike. He’s measured that effort nicely. Just riding steadily back in so he doesn’t go over the threshold too much. We look out over Kegali. This area is amazing for mountain biking and road cycling. Forest trails around the Nungu to the volcanic slopes in the Volcano National Park for mountain biking. gravel riding as well. Thousand kilome thousands of kilometers of rural roads and dirt tracks. It’s rapidly growing in Rwanda. There’s a race around Rwanda, self-supported ultra endurance race which is a gravel cycling event. And also if you’re out and about here, Congo Nile trail, a 227 km trail along Lake Kivu with six distinct stages. Amazing scenery. You can ride around there. And as we’ve heard from the riders, they’re getting to know some of the trails, some of the roads that uh are good to ride on around this particular region. Earlier this year, of course, the UCI opened two World Cycling Center satellites in Buzzi and Bugera. They’re in different landscapes to give athletes and teams a chance to train in environments while taking on the varied routes around here. And riders who come to Kaggali always want to ride the Mur de Kaggali and the rider from Macau is still there and he looked like maybe half an hour ago he was about to be dropped. Number 120 Camchin Pacin Pop riding for Macau. 22 years of age. He’s a national champion of Macau. He’s ridden a lot of races mainly uh in China during this season and the Asian national the Asian continental championships as well. Number 57 is Kadataring from Mongolia. Still there, still riding strongly. Albeit he might be at the back. We have to remember some of these uh riders have not ridden in pelatons that are this large or that are going quite this fast. They might have ridden some Asian races. They might not be at the level of some of the riders at the front. We’re talking about world tour professional bike riders here. So, this is a unique and new experience for a lot of these African riders and some of them are dealing with it really, really well. And it’s good to see that We’ve seen Biam Gamay win a medal here before in this championship, but it’s good to see a number of other riders from Africa who are dealing with the altitude, the heat, the terrain, and the speed that is being set by the riders in this group. Belgium coming to the top of Kat Kegali. I’ve put a curse on him now, haven’t I? Kadar is going out the back. This is Derek Shavar from Biz, number 84. See all the photographers sitting down there on this climb trying to get the best photos they can get. I didn’t know you could get a Haro road bike. Didn’t Haro used to be one of the most famous BMX brands in the world? Still Belgium maintain this pace. Yeah. Who knew that Haro did uh road bikes? Now that I’ve seen them, they look nice, don’t they? Harrow did they were one of the most famous uh BMX bikes of course based in San Diego in California and another South African rider at the back despite the same one. And it is Warren Milman. He’s finding just that tempo on that climb. Just a little bit too hot to deal with. Just got to keep hanging on and hanging on and hoping. This is Karees who was one of the first attackers of the day. He’s now abandoned. Didn’t go his way today. Can Belgium keep this going all day? It’s still a few hours of racing to go. We think two and well over two hours nearly 3 hours of racing left and it’s riders who are prepared to just sit in here. Hish McKenzie for example, number 45 that you can see there just towards the back. McKenzie is having a really quiet time just sitting waiting. Hamish McKenzie very experienced. He will ride for Jacob Alula next season. Third in the under23 world time trial championship in 2023. McKenzie clearly just happy sit there at the back. He rides at the moment for Hagens Burman. Jacob, the team that is the was without doubt the best team in the world for spotting young talent. So many of the top riders in the world to pelaton have ridden for Haggins Burman and now they’re the feeder team for Jac Alua with that combined thoughts and mind and experience of racing. McKenzie, 21 years of age, wears number 45, second in the Oceania Continental Championships in 2023. See how Hamish McKenzie does on today’s race. We’re still in the very early stages. We’re coming up now to around about 60 kilometers. We saw earlier on uh Georg Blas Diaz dropping the flag on the race start. He’s the president of the Dominican Cycling Federation and he was recognized yesterday for his role in the development of cycling at national and regional level in his particular area. Was good to see him being given that award. to the Macau rider on the back of the group. Nothing really has changed for quite a few kilometers as we make our way onto the cobbles yet again. And it’s still T-Rex Tim Rex at the front pushing on the tempo for the team of Belgium looking good and still dragging this pace out. Behind him is number 12 and that is Aaron Docks. And they’re clearly riding for one rider and one rider only and that is Yano Weed. Going out the back now is Joshua Dyke of South Africa. You just feel like you want to give him a push and keep him on the back of that pelaton, don’t you? Now we get a bit of a move. One rider trying to keep his pace up alongside the Belgian riders who are really at home on these cobbles. This is the Rwanda rider who is going to be distanced now to his air. Etiento is dropped just can’t stay with the pelaton this afternoon now and we’re getting into that second phase of the race where the riders have already covered that first section and now they get inside that 100k to go shortly they start to feel like the kilometers are ticking down well so still the push of the pace. Dutch house is on the right hand side of this climb. The Rwanda flags are flying as always. Belgium continue to keep the throttle on. Two South African riders trying to keep each other company at the back here. Warren Milman wearing number 78. They give each other a tap. Say, “Come on, let’s keep in here now. Let’s keep this going.” That’s what teammates are all about. Joshua Dyke maybe coming to his last moment in this pelaton because look at the way that Belgium are riding. This is proper full-on bike racing. speed at which Tim Rex is riding these cobble climb this afternoon is very very impressive. Spain are represented up towards the front. Slovenia there on the left in that green colored kit. Well, the Italians are still on the wheel of the Belgians in that blue colored kit. Ecuador represented up towards the front as well. Yes, here they are. Oh, and this is hurting now. Two riders going out the back. Marco Brener who’s not been able to get back in after that problem and he’s with Emory Sang asking for the team car again. We come up to complete another lap. This time we’ll have seven laps of racing to go. It’s a steady burn the under 23 World Championship. The universal language of I’m about to get out the saddle, the flick of both elbows. Gives the rider behind the the idea you might your bike might come back a little bit at you. Just give it a little bit of a gap. Having a little chat at the side of the road. Big move by the Aerat train moving up on the right hand side just trying to keep himself in contention. So let’s take a look at the average speed again this time. See how things have developed. Seven laps of racing now remain in this under 23 World Road Race Championship. An hour and a half of racing coming up. The end of this lap. It’s Petra Matio of Italy leads across the line ahead of Tim Rex and Yasper Scoops. 41.061 km an hour now. And just to give you an idea numbers of riders in the palaton, we’ve now got 75 riders there. We lost another four. bottle being thrown to some fans at the side of the road there. And some more on the other side. Few bottles bouncing around as well, though. That’s a little dangerous. You don’t want to hit any bottles. That could bring you down immediately, especially if they’re full of water. Here’s the replay of the riders completing that lap with seven laps to go. After this race, we only have three titles left to decide. We’ve got tomorrow’s racing. We’ll be uh starting again early tomorrow with uh various bits of action. The men’s elite races on Sunday starts at 9:45 in the morning local time. Tomorrow, the women’s elite race, which will be 164.6 6 km. Same as today on this local circuit. Women’s junior race will be first thing in the morning at 8:20 in the morning. 74 km, five times around this this circuit. The women’s race 11 times around this circuit. We’re hoping the rain stays away. We’ve said we’re moving towards rainy season. Hopefully, it’ll just hold off all the way until Sunday night. The women’s elite race is going to be interesting on this uh this circuit. The men’s elite road race on Sunday takes us into a massive extension circuit which actually we drove around a few days ago and took a look. That’s going to be some circuit that the rid’s going to go on because I don’t remember much in the way of flat roads on that circuit. And it takes them out on this big big loop and it takes them over the mirali which is the famous climb as we see the campaign against genocide museum we talked about a little while ago with this incredible sculpture. But we go over uh the Mura de Kaggali, which is an incredible climb. We go over Mont Kaggali as well. Takes us up to 1,771 m above sea level. So, the riders in that men’s elite race are going to come around that big circuit. They do nine laps of the local circuit. Then they go back out on a big extension circuit. Then they do six laps of the local circuit. This is the lineup of the Spanish team. Paris. Two Canadian riders at the back now of this string of riders. Suddenly you can go from feeling great to not feeling so good. Well, we saw Harry Hudson earlier on and we wondered what his next steps are going to be and they’ve just been announced. Lead Trek have announced that he’s going to be riding for Leadle Trek Future Racing. So that dream of becoming a bike rider and having a career as a bike rider cuz that’s in his words what I love doing, riding a bike. As we see a puncture here, puncture for Morera of Portugal. And there’s nothing he can do. He can’t really ride on it. It’s so gone down so quickly. So Harry Hudson has signed for Leadle Trek Future Racing the Fever Team of Lead Trek. They’ve got their hands on him straight away. Puncher for this rider. It’s been a long wheel change this one. I do wonder if uh these teams are listening to Radio Tour cuz I heard that call ages ago. This is a slow wheel change. Very slow wheel change. The similar situation that has lasted now for nearly 70 km maintained by the Belgian squads. this race 164.6 km and Belgium pretty much since the start have been on the front of the pelaton. They brought the breakaway back that started early and since then they’ve just ridden a team time trial predominantly led by T-Rex on the front. This is Kbatar of Mongolia. the Mongolian. We’re inside the magic. 100 km to go in this under 23 men’s road race championship. 57 km an hour. We’ve got seven laps of racing to go. We’re heading towards Kaggali Golf for the next time. We’re going to get there in 1.6 km. go up Kaggali Golf and head towards Kimharura for the completion of the next lap. I wonder when another nation will start to challenge Belgium for this lead. I would imagine around about 60k to go. They’re probably going to let that happen until then. Tel Aluani is out of the race. the Moroccan rider. He was the sole representative of Morocco. He’s now gone. Warren Milman still on the back. In front of him is number 117, Jonas Walton, who’s been there and looks to me like he’s having one of those days where you are just nailed to the road and you’re doing everything you can to ride through it. Australian Zach Marage just dodging around at the back wearing number 44. Greenwood and McKenzie are his teammates. There he is. Number 44 in the camera. Zack Marage pedles his way up the outside. He’s going well. You can tell that he just looks comfortable this afternoon. Seems to be just dealing with this race, doing whatever he wants. Zach Marage has had a stagier role in a team. Niah Mun here of Senagle has abandoned the race. An abandon here as well of Martin Bart. Talking of barters with a different slightly different accent on them, Will Barter, the American climber, is signed for TUDA Pro Cycling and announced today 29year-old Will Barta. 2-year deal with TUDA Pro Cycling now. So, he’s got some commitment and uh some long-term stability or longerterm stability. That’s good news for Will Bart. He’s a talented time trius, a very good climber and I can see him getting better and better all the time. Belgium onto the climb again here at Kegali Golf. They must feel good. It must be a nice sight for Jana Weedar to be looking at his entire team on the front looking after him. Just been able to ride in the wheels and the team basically taking everything on as we’re inside that magic 100 km to go. Still a lot of laps left, but at the moment everything is going their way. They seem to have the entire race under control. South African team tagged to the back of this race. Number 77 on the left hand side. Here’s Bla Kick. He won the Grand Prix to Tutteron in France. Also finished second in Pina Fria. A lot of races in France this season. 43 racing days by these guys at the front. It’s just stupendous. Look at how everyone will is out. And also out now is Samuel Cur of Canada. He’s out of the race as well. early in this race. They’re sitting back and looking at each other. See the detail in that skin suit while we take a look at him there. The Ara train riders are going well in this race, aren’t they? When we look through the group of riders, they are still well represented. And I’m just uh taking a quick look at Macau still represented. South Africa, Germany, Slovakia, Beckistan, USA. Uruguay still got riders in the front group. South Africa and Dora as well. Eratraa to me uh they’ve got one, two, three or four riders still in here. Eratraa, there we are. We take a look at them now. We’re in number 92. This is one of the riders from Eratraa, Mi. So things are going all right for them this afternoon. Milkas Mi and the rest of the Aerat train squad. I saw Daniel Technot a couple of days ago. He’s here obviously just uh being with the Eratrayan team Lemonard who was a pro until what 2018. He finished his career with Kofidis. Rode for the likes of Ora Green Edge. She rode for SLA test team for NPN MTN Cube Becca and Dimension Data 95.1. He’s a winner actually here in Rwanda. Daniel Techmani won the tour of Rwanda in 2010. Remember him wearing a king of the mountain jersey in was it the doofen I think as Das Risb of Kazakhstan is now out of the race as well. Suddenly, we’re getting more and more riders coming into the pits. Back of the pelaton Ethiopia. still represented here with number 86 Ta Palameo. He’s going well, isn’t he? Bearing in mind we are a long way in now to this world championship. We’re 70 km into this race. They’ve lost Tes, but they’ve still got two riders here in Hal Mariam and Alameo at the back. So, you’ve got to be impressed at the way that these uh African riders are staying in this under 23 road race championship because it’s not been easy so far. This pace is relentless. It is one of those paces which really does destroy the legs. Last time we went through the end of the lap with nearly 60 km completed, 58.9 And it was Belgium and Italy and Eratraa all at the front of the race. Still no major attacks since we saw the first attacks of the day. Those contained a number of different riders trying to make their move and trying to get involved in the action. We saw Pamski of Poland, Allei of UAE, Yilmas went on the attack. The Ukrainian rider Koseras went on the attack as well as we reach Kimhura for the next time and still on the front. What a job this guy is doing. How is he riding like this for the entire time? the traditional drums. I do love the way that they’ve got all their t-shirts printed and everything is really detailed. There’s a lovely shot across the cobbles to give you an idea of just uh how rough this surface is. And a moment where the legs start to falter from of Pekkiststan, number 83 and also number 53 Zalka of the Czech Republic. Well, yesterday in other cycling news as we see Belgium going to the top, David Leaten was reelected as the president of the UCI. tonight and announced that the world championships are coming to 13 cities across 10 different countries worldwide as they announced more dates in World Championships. We saw Federica Venturelli riding well the last few days. She’s now just been announced with the UAE development team for UAE team ADQ. Almost at the top of the cobbles this time. The riders when they get to the line will have six laps of racing to go. And finally, the Belgian stronghold on the front of this Pelaton has been exploded by the arrival of Spain and also the team of Italy to try and rip this up a little bit. They’re not impressed at letting the Belgians just continue. And now they start their plan. And a big move by the Italians as they start to rip this pace up a little bit now on the cobbled section. Big acceleration. That was a very very big move. Suddenly we get a long long stretch of this pace. So it looked like it was Petra Matio who has upped the pace now trying to get rid of the Belgian team off the front. Big explosion of tempo. It looked to me like Hector Alvarez of the team of lead on the front now. A little bit of a move by the Slovakian rider. Not prepared. Now big attack of France. So number of riders want to try and break the will of the Belgian team this time. We come up to the line. This time we’re going to have six laps of racing to go. Austria now started some accelerations too. So suddenly this little move means that everybody is suddenly sparked into life and the pelaton breaking into two parts. Well over 70 km of racing covered now nearly 74. We’re coming up to almost two hours of racing and now Belgium take control. The end of this lap. Six laps of racing now remain. Across the line is Yano Weed who was the Belgian rider at the front. Average speed 41.079. So they’ve speeded up a little bit on that lap and everybody taking a big deep breath. The pelaton looks like it’s coming back together, which would mean we have ended up with 63 riders left. 64 riders left. In fact, one more rider will probably come across. 65 riders. We’ve lost 10 that time in the main bulk of the pelaton. Just hearing that Hamish McKenzie’s been dropped for Australia, which is a bit of a surprise. And I’m just taking a look. I’ve just seen Hamish McKenzie just go past my commentary position. Uh significant margin down on the rest of the pelaton. So it looks like McKenzie is going to be out of the race. So Belgian take over after that little acceleration. Italy wanted to test things out a little bit. By the looks of it, Hector Alvarez, the Spanish rider, the 18-year-old, just trying to inject a little bit more life into the rest of the pelaton. He’s a very talented bike rider. Hector Alvarez, one of the favorites for this afternoon, rid of the lead track future racing team. Finished third in the Tour of Austria this year. Alvarez has gone done a lot of racing this season. 40 race days, which for a young rider is a lot. He comes from Benadorm. on the back of the pelaton number 19 here. Gomez on one of those beautiful bikes of the Kipo Karn Farmer. If you’ve never seen these up close, they are stunning machines. The paint job is beautiful. He’s got a contract there till the end of 2028. started the tour of Britain, didn’t finish the first stage, had a crash or a bit of illness there, I remember, but apart from that, he’s had a good season. And if you ever get the chance to go to a race or a keeper, Kern Farmer are actually there and look at their setup. The green of those bikes is quite amazing actually. Looks very, very special indeed. 87 12 km now remain on this race. 66 km an hour downhill with the Belgian team in control. So, the bands continue to play as the riders make their way towards Kota Kaggali Golf for another lap of racing. Can imagine by the end of the afternoon they’re going to be pretty tired. They’ve been playing since 8:00 this morning every time the riders go past. What the lips would be like by the end of the day. 28° it is now. 11 km an hour winds. The wind’s picked up just a little bit. It’s been uh a fast day. No problem here for Yasperas Scoos of Belgium. He needs a team car. The team car is coming up. Yes. Here comes the Belgian team car. And of course, they don’t have race radios, so they can only just go back and chat. And that’s not so easy to do when the tempo has been as high as it has been all day. It’s a bottle. But these riders are so experienced. Yasper Scoops here rides for the Suda Quickstep development team. You can see he’s on the specialized bike there as we head towards Kota Kaggali. So things have not really changed since that first attack of the day was brought back and Belgium have been on the front for what 60 km I think now as the crowds get bigger at the side of the road. The sun is out. It’s hot. It’s getting warmer. And thanks for joining me for a little bit, Michelle Gilmore. How is it out there? Well, like you said, Anthony, it is it is really, really hot. And that’s why you see the the team director cars are giving the athletes ice to put down, try and keep their core temperature lower just to conserve bit of energy that they might use later in the race. But it’s it’s a strange type of heat here. It just really knocks you about. And a lot of the athletes have said that that it’s it’s hard to acclimatize to this heat. Even though it might only be 30°, it’s a different heavy type of heat. It feels really heavy, doesn’t it, when you’re outside. I don’t know what it is. Yeah, it’s um super hard to breathe as well. Obviously, we’re at altitude at 1500 m, but it seems to have an additional challenge to it with the the thickness of the air. Now, you’ve been outside for the day. You’ve had some meetings as always. cuz you’re always busy and you’ve been uh doing what what you need to do out and about, but I I’m really thankful for you joining us uh this afternoon for a little bit. How is the atmosphere out there cuz it it does look like all the fans are out again. The atmosphere is growing and it’s uh it’s another great championship day. Well, in the vicinity of the start, finish the finish line where we are here, it’s nearly impossible to have a conversation with somebody because the the the drums are going, the atmosphere, it’s loud and it’s impossible to have a conversation or you have to use your voice. Normally, I lose my voice when I’m commentating hours and hours. But when you’re uh out and about here and wander around the finish line, if you’re trying to talk to somebody, you actually have to yell at them because everybody’s so excited. Everybody’s smiling, happy, dancing. So, the atmosphere is absolutely unbelievable out there. I’m really happy to be tuning into this men’s under 23 road race for a little bit. And they they’ll be racing 11 laps of this circuit, the same as the elite women will race tomorrow. And me myself, well, I’ve been out there on a bike and uh it is a a tougher course than it looks on TV or on a profile or piece of paper. It’s got beautifully smooth roads been resurfaced especially for this championship and then it’s got that very very very hard coal climb coming into the finish. So it’s technically a uh difficult course for these riders especially over the you know the distance might be a little bit shorter than they do in other races but here at the world championships in Rwanda this will certainly be a super taxing race which begs the question of Belgium they have got the clear favorite in the race and they have dominated the front of the race from the start. Big question is at this point of the race with 83 km to go, have they burnt matches too early? That’s the only question. But they have I mean they look pretty relaxed sitting in a line and uh you know they’ve had one teammate just do a huge huge job. So it looks like everything’s going to plan and they look confident coming in as race leaders and taking control of the race. Let’s hope all of their riders managed with the uh the climate here and uh the distance of the race. So on this part of the circuit uh the other day I had to stop and have a breather myself. I sat down and I had a couple of the organizing committee come and ask me, “Oh, would you like us to get a doctor for you?” And I said, “No, I’m I’m all right. I’m just having a little rest and I’m waiting for the Australian team to come by and I’m going to say hello to a few friends.” and uh we got chatting and uh the locals here are just so enthusiastic about cycling. It’s incredible. Everyone you speak to, they’re so happy to have the World Championships here and they they want to be helpful. They’re actually wearing t-shirts that say, “Please ask me.” And it’s written right across their back. So, it’s uh just to give you a little bit of uh perspective if you haven’t been able to make it to this year’s World Championships. It’s probably something we’ve never experienced before in terms of the organization. So the UCI here at the World Championships have been very very particular about riders using these cars as a way back to the pelaton particularly more than in other races. So riders have to be very very careful if they go back to the team car not to use any slipstream assistance from the follow vehicles. So, even though Belgium have been dominating for their race favorite, you can just see the body language that there’s still not really that many other riders that are not laboring and moving their shoulders and swaying side to side any more than they are. So, they look like they have things in control at this point of the race. Oh, an attack coming now from the Italian. Well, Belgium are really, really demonstrating that it’s their job to keep this race together, try and neutralize it with putting a rider on the wheel. And still the team will continue to chase whilst they have a rider in the brake. So Relle, two riders making their move now. This is the Italian rider who’s been quite making a move at times. Matio and Scofuse, the Belgian. So the Belgian team, the Belgian team have been riding on the front so much of today. Yeah, it’s interesting. You can see that, you know, they put a rider to cover an attack. They had a rider protected that was, you know, it’s your job. You go and cover that, that attack. But at the same time, they’re still chasing. Even though they’ve got a rider in the breakaway, they’re still chasing. So, they’ve put all their cards on will their number one rider for today. But the the um the fact that they’ve been riding all day and they believe in uh Yano Weedar today. Do you think it’s the right thing to do when we see a team like this who’ve basically ridden on the front of this pelaton for well now approaching what 60 odd kilometers 70 km and one rider in that team has done the majority of the work. Big attack again as another move starts to happen. Why do you think Belgium want to ride like that all day? Yeah, I think it’s a big it’s a very very uh big question. I I had a glimpse of the screen when I was having a meeting with one of the ex-presidents of the UCI in the VIP box and all you could see is blue on the front all the time. And I did ask the question said, do you think they’re doing a little bit too much too too soon? Because that’s the big question, you know, now they they all need to take a breather now and um there’s still 80 km left to go in this race. So that is a really big question. The tactic al obviously was to keep the pace high to neutralize attacks until we weed is going to make a big move at some point, but just keep him protected, keep the pace high and keep this race together until he’s ready to go. But we’ve seen teams do this before. I mean, the most um the biggest example of this happening was Mark Caendish in his World Championship victory, wasn’t it? He was uh looked after all day and he managed to win the title, but we’ve seen it happen in other races where Great Britain tried to control the Olympic Games and then they didn’t win anything. And so it’s a risky strategy to put all your team on the front like that. Yeah, it definitely is. But like you referred to the the win of Mark Cavendish is that it also puts more pressure on you and it’s a good pressure where you say, “Okay, my teammates, they’ve done every single thing possible today. All I need to do is finish it off.” So it it adds more pressure when you’re you’ve got a complete team like this. As you can see, Bel is still back to the front, keep the pace, neutralize those attacks, wait for Weed to make his move. But when your team does everything they’re supposed to do, you feel like, okay, I’ve got that pressure on me, but they’ve done everything. I’ve just got to finish it off. Perfect. Yeah. So, it’s good for him then. And he does look comfortable. boys. He’s he’s looked like he’s he’s had one problem today uh where he had to come back into the race and he was paced back by Camille He-Man who brought him back into the race really nicely. But apart from that, he’s had a pretty much an armchair ride, although it’s quite hard to say he’s an armchair rider around this course. Whilst you’ve been out and about, um what are people saying about the course itself? Are you getting any sense of how hard it really is out there? a lot harder than anybody anticipated before actually coming and not even saying riding it but riding it at race pace over race distance pace. So it it if you look at it on paper or you ride a lap or you you know you study the the science of road surface all all the technicalities and the scientific elements the climate all that kind of thing. The thing is that it’s it’s just so so many different challenges here that the riders need to deal with that they can underestimate unless they’ve done a full race of 164.6 km, 11 laps at race pace to know if the like you mentioned it earlier that a lot of riders rely on their power data. Yes. But they can’t hit those datas here because they’re at altitude and they’ve got really thick air to breathe in and the cobbles are obviously taking a lot out of the riders as well. That’s the toughest toughest part of the course. So yeah, I think the course has not been underestimated. And now that we’ve seen the pattern of this racing going on and tomorrow we’ll be together for the women’s race, how do you think it’s going to impact on the elite races? because they’ll be watching this, won’t they? There’s a lot of elite riders watching this racing right now as we see an attack from Poland. How will it how will it impact that women’s race tomorrow potentially as goes off the front? He’s been on the attack already today right at the beginning of the race. Can you see that we’ll see just a pelaton like this? Can you see attacks happening? How do you see that women’s race will be impacted by the course, the terrain, and uh what we’re going to see? Well, it’s interesting because I think now that they’ve seen it, and I’ve seen uh out on the course myself, riders like Annabander doing laps at full race pace behind a motorbike that they will there might be a chance that it’s a non-eventful race because they they’re worried about the attrition and it only takes a split moment to be dropped and the race is over here. It’s not easy to get back because even what they the flat sections they’re not flat. It’s a very up and down technical corners and obviously the two climbs. So it it’s possible that after what they’re they’re watching that we might just see a nutritional race until the last couple of laps. It looks like that’s what’s happening in this race as well where we saw an initial attack then riders literally came from the front group and got dropped immediately as more riders drop out of the race at this point and they’ve done what 90 km nearly of this world championship. This is Lee Yu. We saw him hanging at the back for a long long time today. And again the Belgian team take control and make sure that the tempo is how Yano Weedar wants it. Uh Luke Valente of Canada was just being distanced.
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