World Championships 2023 (ME RR) - Stats

Stats on World Championships

World Championships cycling in Glasgow are approaching. Who participated most often? And which riders received most rainbow-jerseys? The Worlds have been organized since 1927 and Glasgow 2023 is the 90th edition. Stats on the World Championships.

Poulidor most starts, Greg finished all

Raymond Poulidor is the rider with the most participations in the World Road Championships. In one edition he did not reach the finish. Junkermann, Kelly and Zoetemelk are on 17 starts. Arashiro is the first active rider in this list. The Japanese will start the World Championship road race for the 15th time next Sunday. After Zoetemelk, Boogerd is the Dutchman with the most starts (14). Van Avermaet is the first in the list to reach the finish in all his participations: 14 times. Unfortunately, Greg will not rise any further.

5 riders with 3 titles

5 riders were allowed to ride around in the precious rainbow jersey for 3 seasons. Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx, Oscar Freire and Peter Sagan won 3 editions of the World Championship. 8 riders are at two titles, including Julian Alaphilippe and Paolo Bettini.

Alejandro Valverde has by far the most top results at the World Cup: 7 podiums and 11 top-10s. Before his glorious victory in Inssbruch (2018), Valverde was already on the podium 6 times. Freire, Merckx and Zoetemelk come closest to El Imbatibo with 8 top-10s. Among the riders with 7 top-10 places, 3 have never been on the top step: Poulidor, Kelly and Anquetil never managed to win the World Road Championships. The latter also applies to active riders Kristoff and Matthews who finished top 10 6 and 5 times respectively.

5 renners mochten 3 seizoenen in de felbegeerde regenboogtrui rondrijden. Alfredo  Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx, Oscar Freire en Peter Sagan wonnen 3 edities van het wereldkampioenshap. 8 renners staan op twee titels, waaronder Julian Alaphilippe en Paolo Bettini.

Alejandro Valverde heeft veruit de meeste top-resultaten op het WK: 7 podiums en 11 top-10s. Voor zijn glorieuze zege in Inssbruch (2018) stond Valverde al 6 keer op het podium. Freire, Merckx en Zoetemelk komen nog het meest in de buurt van El Imbatibo met 8 top-10s. Onder de renners met 7 top-10 plaatsen zijn er 3 die nooit op de hoogste trede stonden: Poulidor, Kelly en Anquetil wisten nooit het WK op de weg te winnen. Dat laatste geldt ook voor actieve renners Kristoff en Matthews die respectievelijk 6 en 5 keer top-10 eindigden.

Medal Tabel dominated by Belgium

Belgium is by far the most successful country at the Road World Championships with 27 world champions and 51 podiums. Italians won less often (19 times), but managed to finish top-3 more often (55 times). Behind these two countries are France, the Netherlands and Spain with the most titles and podiums. Peter Sagan is single-handedly responsible for Slovakia's 8th place in the medal tally with 3 wins and another 3 top-10s. 18 different countries produced at least one world champion in the 90 editions.

A unique achievement in cycling history is to win both the World Road Championships and the World Time Trial Championships. So far only Abraham Olano managed to do that. Thanks to his 2nd place last year, Evenepoel is the 6th rider to finish on the podium of both events. In addition to Olano and Remco, Indurain, van Aert, Küng and Jalabert also succeeded.

To the present: Worlds of 2023

A quick look back at last year in Wollongong shows that Evenepoel was one of the youngest world champions at almost 23 years old (Armstrong was the last younger winner in 1993) and also won by the biggest difference since 1953: a lead of 2 minutes 21 after a solo of almost 26 kilometers (the longest solo since 1968).

This year the riders have to complete more than 270 kilometers, which is the longest World Championship on the road since 1981 in Copenhagen. About halfway the riders turn onto the local lap in Glasgow. The course of the World Cup is characterized by the winding street circuit. 48 90 degree turns in just 14 kilometers. And that 10 times. They get to choose 480 sharp turns.

Another important feature of the Glasgow circuit (final 143 kilometers) is the many ups and downs. The circuit accommodates 193 vertical meters covered on a height difference of 37 meters. A total of 1930 vertical meters within 37 meters of altitude difference is the highest ratio in a one-day race in at least 10 years. The second race in that list is the 2021 Amstel Gold Race, which was held on a closed local lap.

Strong startlist

The quality of the World Cup '23 start list is the highest of all one-day races in the past 2 years. Many major one-day specialists will be at the start next Sunday. The World Cup has traditionally the field of participants of all one-day races, only the Tour de France has a stronger field of participants every year.

Remarkable about the field of participants is the relatively large number of young riders. 15 riders are younger than 23 years old. That was even more in 2020, but then no World Cup for riders younger than 23 was held due to the corona measures.

Laurence Pithie is at 21 years and 20 days, the youngest participant in the 2023 World Cup and Todome, Vacek, Sheffield, Kooij en Watson are also younger than 22 on Sunday. Dotti is the oldest participant. Just like Impey and Arashiro, he was already at the start of the World Cup in 2007.

Belgium is the strongest team by far

Belgium will be the team with the strongest riders at the start in 2023. If we look at the average number of points scored by the Belgian participants in the past 12 months, it is much higher than for the other teams. Denmark and France have the strongest position behind the Belgians. Van Aert, Evenepoel and Philipsen ar the Belgians with most points scored in the past year.

Main contenders and their performances

Pogacar, van Aert, Evenepoel and van der Poel are the big names at the start. It is the third time they will compete in the same race after the World Cup in 2021 and 2022. They are also the four riders with the largest share of victories in major one-day races. All four have a strike rate of more than 15 percent. Evenepoel won 6 of the 14 major classics he participated in and he was the best in the 5 most recent ones he started.

The World Cup is a month earlier this year, which has a major impact on the number of race days of participants (no Vuelta 2023 yet). This year, just like 2020 (corona), could well be a year with a small number of race days for the winner. The last time the world champion had less than 48 racing days in his legs was Oscar Freire in 2001. The Danes Pedersen and Asgreen raced a lot with 51 and 58 racedays respectively.

Mat and Wout

The duel in the classics of the past years is the one between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel. The 2023 world championship will be the 28th one-day race with both rivals at the start. The statistics don't lie: in 21 of the 28 races one of the two was on the podium and Mathieu or Wout won 12 times. Mathieu van der Poel has an advantage with more victories, more podiums and better results more often. The median result of MVDP is 3: in half (14) of the 27 matches he was on the podium. Both finished outside the top 10 only once: 5 years ago in the Elfstedenronde. Both gentlemen have had a good preparation to the Worlds, all is set for a great battle.

Who will wear the rainbow jersey remaining races of 2023 and 2024? Another surprise by Pedersen? Will Evenepoel prolong his title with another year? Or will there be a Dutch World Champion for the first time since 1985? Let's see on Sunday.