Courtesy Roger Moll, Sydney

Notable vintage Aussie athletes Alan Nelson (St Kilda CC) and Roger Cull (Sydney CC) were in Europe road racing with some success in August/September.
Alan and Roger were both 2021 age group ITT and road race National Champions and both medaled in the UCI World Gran Fondo Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 2021. So it was hardly surprising that they would have another crack at the big stage in 2022.

After both racing and winning their age groups (Alan 60-64 and Roger 65-69) at April’s Tour of Brisbane (the only Australian qualifier for the UCI Champs), they amped up the training. Alan headed to Mallorca for some 5 star training, whilst Roger, somewhat less conventionally, rode a CX bike 1700km across the Mongolian steppe.

The first target of the Gents’ European campaign was the World Masters Cycling Federation World Championships held annually in St Johann in Austria. Roger had been here and won in 2018, but it was Alan’s first attempt.

The first event was the ITT which Alan won convincingly. (ITT is Alan’s special subject; he won the UCI World title in 2021). Roger’s 5th place might have been a ‘thanks for coming’ but was actually only seconds from the podium, so he drew some encouragement.
Roger redeemed some pride by winning the hillclimb by more than a minute.

The road races proved to expose weaknesses in both the Gents’ race craft. Roger attacked on the first hill and rode away from his bunch. Riding solo and trying to hold more than 40kph for 25 km proved to be just a little ambitious and a group of seven chasers caught him with a couple kms to ride. Roger tried to contest the sprint but was too cooked to be in the bling. 7th place was the result.

Alan made a good fist of his race but made a slight navigational misjudgment with a km to ride and finished 4th.

The UCI Champs were a few weeks away so the Gents headed first to Trento, Italy to get a good look at the ITT and road race courses. They then did the classic climbs out of Bormio (Garvia, Stelvio and Mortirolo) and another week of big hill climbing in the Dolomites. Hard training yes, but also very beautiful terrain to be riding. Roger punctuated the road riding with a couple of mountain bike days in the Dolomites. Probably as stunning a couple days as any human could enjoy on a bicycle.

With masses of training in the legs and a bunch of age group KOM’s for a bunch of classic European climbs, our Aussie heros headed back to Trento to relax and recover prior to the UCI races.

First up was the ITT. Alan again demolished the opposition to win his 3rd World Title on the trot.
Roger, not so much. Whilst turning in a creditable performance, just 10 seconds off the podium, history will record another 5th place.

The road race was a brute. 87 km with 2300m of climbing. The race starts with an unrelenting 20km climb of 1400m! Both our riders rode perfect races and both agreed after the event that there was nothing more that they could have done. The Italians were just too good. Something in the air? Something in the water? Or simply home ground advantage? It’s hard to know, but Alan came 4th to 3 Italians. Roger was also beaten by 3 Italians, although a couple of further interlopers pushed Roger back to 6th.
It seems odd that the Italians can win by such superhuman margins.
In any event, our Aussie champs are richer and wiser for the experience and considering options for 2023.
(Roger moves into the 70-74 age group so will be one of the “younger” riders, rather than one of the oldest in his category.)
Alan headed home to frame and hang his 2 World Jerseys and Roger headed to Germany for some R&R.