2004 Road World Championships

Kerry Millar (Cycleworks) went to the World Championships in Verona, Italy in October 2004. This is his report.

2004 World Championships in Verona

My trip to Verona for the 2004 World’s was actually on the back-half of a two week long vacation that started in Munich for Oktoberfest and traversed through Austria and most of northern Italy before making it’s way to Verona on Saturday October 2nd. After 9 days in 3 different countries I was ready to have a good time and see some great cycling. I had no idea of the adventures that would lie ahead!

My girlfriend Kristin had flown over from the States and joined me in Cinque Terre several days prior and we just couldn’t tear ourselves away from the gorgeous coastal fishing village, so we were heading to Verona a day later than we initially planned. After battling the rental car lines in Florence for over an hour and making an escape from Florence that rivaled the chase scene in “the Italian Job”, we jumped on the Autostrada and headed north. I’ve always heard Italian drivers were nuts, but when you’re driving at 160kph in a 130kph zone and getting passed on both sides despite being on a 2-lane highway, you know things are out of control! We finally made it out of the mountains and across the agricultural waste-land near Modena and Bologna just in time to catch all of the street closings for the women’s race that had just started. We spent another hour and a half racing around the perimeter of the city trying to find a road that either went over or under the course so we could find our hotel and catch a glimpse of some of our “locals” like Iona Wynter and Tina Pic. Luckily we finally made our way into the Old Town and located our hotel and headed down to the race. The course was 14.75km loop that ran through the city of Verona and then jogged north until it hit the Torricelli climb, a brutal 3.1km ascent before a twisty descent back into the city. Many of the roads through Verona are ancient cobbles, so this added to the fun for the riders who aren’t used to such rough European roads. The women would put in 9 laps while the men would have to ascend the Torricelli a brutal 19 times.

We managed to catch the last few laps of the womens race and just in time to see Judith Arndt from Germany make her solo break for victory. At the conclusion of the race there was strangely no security to speak of and we were walking freely amongst the riders on the course just minutes after they crossed the start finish-line. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the sights around Verona--which is a highly underrated destination in my opinion. The highlight was the 23,000 seat Roman Arena, constructed under Caeser Augustus in 100 A.D. and still in use today for the Verona Opera and other concerts. That’s just something you’re not going to find in your average Southeastern city on a race weekend while you’re killing time! Juliet’s balcony, Via Mazzini and a host of other Roman ruins were all great sights to see.

That evening we wound up back on the Piazza Bra, the largest Piazza in Verona and adjacent to the race course. I steered us to the open air bar in front of the hotel that was flying a giant “Lion of Flanders” flag from the balcony. This had to be the place for the serious cycling fans. Sure enough the entire patio was jammed with Belgian cycling fans and we quickly made friends with a group that turned out to be with the Quick Step/Davitamon Team. Not only were they with the team, but they were the sons of the owners of the team! They were amazed that Americans had come all the way to Italy to see the race, so they made sure our glasses were kept full all night. Soon after our arrival, former Belgian strong-man and now Team Manager Wilfried Peeters joined our group along with most of the other non-riding members of the Quick-Step team. I don’t speak Flemish, but everyone was great and we managed to converse pretty well. Along with this group was also one of the owners of Duvel beer, apparently one of Belgians largest breweries. So between the two groups I don’t think we paid for a single drink all evening. At one point we all walked down to the race course and scaled the barricades for photo-ops atop the podium on the start finish line. My favorite moment of the evening, however, came when I spotted Didi, better known to most cycling fans as “the Devil”. He was just strolling around the Piazza in full costume, so I ran over and snapped a few shots of him with his freshly painted “Judith Arndt” sign. Soon thereafter, the bronze medal winner from the women’s race, Anita Valen from Norway, stopped by our table and had a few beers with us as well. She was well on her way to a pretty massive hangover the next day I’m sure, but it was all in celebration for a great race. The festivities carried on way too late into the evening and the sun was on the brink of rising by the time the Belgians stopped buying the beer. Needless to say we opted to sleep in for the start of the race and try to catch the latter half rather than battle the crowds on and hour’s worth of sleep.

The great thing about Europe is that the race was on several channels in the hotel room, so I could sleep off my hangover while watching the first half of the race from the relative comfort of my bed! We eventually made it back down the Start/Finish area, but he crowds were massive as the chase was on and the race was drawing to a close. We were positioned about 200m past the start/finish line, so when Oscar Freire led the final sprint across the line all of the riders naturally coasted into the arms of their handlers, which were right in front of our position!. It was amazing to see the likes of Zabel, O’Grady, Freire and others just collapsing into the arms of their soigneiurs after such an intense race. Once again, the security was non-existent and I was standing next to Michael Rasmussen and Stuey O’Grady as they gave interviews for their respective countries’ TV networks. We started calling this the “anti-Lance Effect” and were frankly glad not to have to deal with the media/security crush that comes with his presence.

After the race we meandered through Verona for more great meals, shopping and sights and eventually wound up back with the Belgians for another night of revelry. Most of them hadn’t slept from the night before and were pretty devastated at Bettini’s withdrawal and Tom Boonen’s failure in the late-break, so we only hung around for a couple of beers. But we made some great friends and they’ve invited us to Belgium for the Spring Classics in April, so if I can make it happen I may be filing another race report from the Ronde van Vlaanderen or Paris Roubaix in a few months!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this long-winded account and the pictures as well. If you need any information about Verona or Italy in general feel free to get in contact with me, we found some great spots in Chianti, Cinque Terre and Verona.

Ciao for now,

Kerry Millar

A Czech rider shows how dirty it was on the course.

Kerry with the famous Devil.

Kerry Millar could not resist standing on the top podium spot.

Stuart O'Grady (Australia) gives an interview after the race.

The German National Team talks after the race. Alexander "Vino" Vinokourov is on the right.