Dinner with the UCI: Officials in Varese Provide their Favorites for World Road Cycling Championship

I was lucky enough to dine last night with family and friends at the same restaurant as eleven officials from the UCI at the beautiful Albergo Valganna hotel in Varese. We ate at the delicious Ristorante 3Risotti, featuring rich dishes of meat and pasta. Their specialty is risotto, and the chef on site makes his own cheese---delicious!

I think the group of UCI officials chatted excitidely throughout the evening about the parcours and what remained to do. They spoke mostly in French, so much of what they said was alien to me. However, when the topic changed to the road race on Sunday, each communicated their road race favorite to me in English.

While many of the choices were typical, there were a few suprises. Four of them chose Paolo Bettini, four went with Alejandro Valverde, and two chose Oscar Freire. None of these choices surprised me. However, two of them made less traditional choices.

One of the tallest members of the group, friendly and soft spoken, chose his countryman Nicolas Vogondy as the victor. Vogondy, at age 31, is in the prime of his career and is the current French national champion. He possesses the qualities necessary to win, including good climbing skills and great endurance. Unfortunately, his sprint is not excellent, so he would need to arrive at the line solo to claim the win. Still, it was an interesting and intriguing pick.

The other surprise came from a man wearing a blue UCI sweater in the group, who felt that Greg Van Avermaet would take gold for his Belgian team. Van Avermaet is coming off a successful Vuelta a Espana, and is a young arriving star for Belgium. He was mentioned here as a possible darkhorse candidate for victory, and his talent should not be discounted. What better way for the youngster to mark himself as a future star than to take the rainbow jersey against some of the best riders in the world?

Because I didn't hear some other favorites mentioned, I asked the group what they thought of several other riders. They nodded their heads and agreed that Philippe Gilbert, Davide Rebellin and Matti Breschel all had a chance, and also agreed that if Bettini is to win, everything will need to come together just right.

I would like to thank each member of the group that I was able to speak with regarding the racing, and I wish each one luck in assisting to make this world championships better than any other. Although sometimes the UCI is looked upon negatively, we should never forget how difficult it is to put on a bike race, let alone a world championship. Cheers to the UCI for their efforts in each and every race!

NOTE: USING DIAL UP AGAIN, PICTURES WILL BE DICEY UNTIL I CAN FIND A BETTER SPOT TO POST FROM. WILL BE IN THE MEDIA CENTER TODAY, SO PICS COMING SOON.