UCI Road World Championships 2005

The 72nd UCI Road World Championships 2005 took place from September 20th to 25th in the Spanish capital Madrid .

A total of six decisions were made in the time trial and road racing disciplines as well as in the women, men and men U23. At world championships, the drivers do not compete for their sponsors as usual, but drive in national teams. The strongest nations - calculated according to a rating scheme that takes into account the successes in the last international competitions - are allowed to start with up to nine drivers.

stretch

The time trial competitions took place in Casa de Campo, a large park west of the city center. The start was at Puerto de los Castaños, and the finish was at Puerta del Ángel. The route included two climbs that were not easy for a time trial, the six kilometer long but very flat climb to Somosaguas and the short steep climb to the Teleferico cable car.

The road races took place on a 21 km circuit in downtown Madrid. Start and finish were at the Plaza de Lima. The course passed the Bernabéu Stadium and the Palacio de Congresos. The three hardest sections were the climbs to La Dehesa de la Villa, the Avenida Cardenal Herrera Osoria and the Avenida de Asturias. The assumption made in advance that the track would accommodate the sprinters was not confirmed by the course of the race for the men (elite and U23).

Men

Road race (273 km)

space	athlete	country	time
1	Tom Boonen	BEL	6:26:10 h
2	Alejandro Valverde	ESP	same time
3	Anthony Geslin	FRA	same time

In the last one and a half laps, in a sometimes hectic course of the race, a top of up to 11 could form around the Italian Paolo Bettini , Michael Boogerd (NL) and Alexander Vinokurow (KAZ). On the home stretch, this group was overtaken by a group of around 25 chasing the eventual winner Tom Boonen. The best German was Andreas Klier in eighth place.

Individual time trial (44 km)

space	athlete	country	time
1	Michael Rogers	OUT	53: 34.49 min
2	José Iván Gutiérrez	ESP	53: 58.26 min
3	Fabian Cancellara	SUI	53: 58.38 min

Michael Rogers achieved his third consecutive world title in the time trial. The two German starters Sebastian Lang and Michael Rich finished eighth and fifteen.

Women

Road race (126 km)

space	Athlete	country	time
1	Regina Schleicher	GER	3:08:58 h
2	Nicole Cooke	GBR	same time
3	Oenone Wood	OUT	same time

Regina Schleicher was piloted to victory by her teammates in a perfectly organized sprint train and won by one bike length ahead of British rider Nicole Cooke . Her last starter Trixi Worrack took 10th place, last year's world champion Judith Arndt dropped back after the start-up work and was 35.

Individual time trial (22 km)

space	Athlete	country	time
1	Karin Thürig	SUI	28: 51.08 min
2	Joane Somarriba	ESP	28: 56.88 min
3	Kristin Armstrong	United States	29: 30.35 min

Last year's second German Judith Arndt just barely missed a medal with fourth place.

Men U23

Road race (168 km)

space	athlete	country	time
1	Dmytro Grabovskyy	UKR	3:56:23 h
2	William Walker	OUT	23 s back
3	Yevgeny Popov	RUS	same time

The German Carlo Westphal finished fourth, 33 seconds behind. The German road champion Gerald Ciolek took 17th place.

Individual time trial (37.9 km)

space	athlete	country	time
1	Mikhail Ignatiev	RUS	47: 24.28 min
2	Dmytro Grabovskyy	UKR	47: 58.90 min
3	Peter Latham	NZL	48: 01.61 min

As the best German starter, Paul Martens achieved seventeenth place.

Medal table

Medal table
space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Australia	1	1	1	3
2	Ukraine	1	1	-	2
3	Russia	1	-	1	2
	Switzerland	1	-	1	2
5	Belgium	1	-	-	1
	Germany	1	-	-	1
7th	Spain	-	3	-	3
8th	United Kingdom	-	1	-	1
9	France	-	-	1	1
	New Zealand	-	-	1	1
	United States	-	-	1	1

See also

• UCI Track World Championships 2005