Italian cyclist Paolo Bettini is going for a never-achieved three-in-a-row world cycling titles when the 75th edition of the UCI World Championships convenes Wednesday through Sunday in Varese, Italy.
Bettini has been the man wearing the rainbow jersey in the peloton the past two years after victories in Salzburg and Stuttgart.
Now he's trying to join the club of three-time winners — Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Steenbergen and Oscar Freire — but do it in back-to-back-to-back years.
Free online video-streaming of the men's and women's road races and men's and women's time trials at Varese, Italy, will be provided by Universal Sports. See the schedule online for World Championship updates.
US team
Leading the US challengers to Bettini's goal for road race glory on Sunday will be Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, California, who just finished 2nd at the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday. Joining him in the road race will be Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee, Washington, Steven Cozza of Petaluma, Craig Lewis of Spartanburg, S.C., and Lucas Euser, Napa.
National road cycling champ Tyler Hamilton, Christian Vande Velde and George Hincapie all were automatically eligible to participate for the US, but they opted out.
Time trial
Leipheimer is making the trip to Italy for two races. He's also going to compete in Thursday's men's time trial. US National time trial champion David Zabriskie of Salt Lake City will compete in that 27-mile event.
Defending time trial champion Fabian Cancellara decided to sit out worlds this year, so it is a wide-open field. Remember that Leipheimer won both time trials from the recent Vuelta a Espana.
Women's team
Among the women, Olympic time trial gold medalist Kristin Armstrong of Boise, Idaho, is competing in the time trial and road race, as is Christine Thorburn from Sunnyvale, California. Also competing are Katheryn Curi-Mattis, Mountain View, California; Brooke Miller, Los Altos, California; Amber Neben, Irvine, California; and Kori Seehafer, Louisville, Colo.
The real-time schedule:
Tuesday – under 23 men's time trial
Wednesday – women's time trial
Thursday – men's time trial
Friday – under 23 men's road race
Saturday – women road race
Sunday – men's road race
More at CyclingNews.
Online video streaming
The rebranded Universal Sports online platform is wrapping up its September bicycling blitz with the UCI World Championships. Follow this link to live video streaming of the races.
The races will be archived for later viewing on demand.
Universal Sports schedule as of Monday (check online for updates):
Wednesday, Sept. 24 — 9 a.m. ET, elite women time trial
Wednesday, Sept. 24 — 1 p.m. ET, under 23 men time trial (delayed from Tuesday)
Thursday, Sept. 25 — 8 a.m. ET, elite men time trial
Friday, Sept. 26 — 10 a.m. ET, under 23 men's road race
Saturday, Sept. 27 — 8 a.m. ET, elite women road race
Sunday, Sept. 28 — 7 a.m. ET, elite men's road race.
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