Guide to the 2012 UCI Worlds TTT

Team skinsuits not national skinsuits at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday ©Graham Watson

Sept 14th. 12. RoadCycling.co.nz overviews this weekend's trade team time trial, the opening event of the 2012 UCI Road World Championships in Limburg, The Netherlands.

On Sunday, teams of six riders will race from Sittard-Geleen to Valkenburg in search of the world title for their trade team, a title which has been reinstated this year after a lengthy absence.

While there are no rainbow jerseys on offer, there is prize money, a trophy and the winning men's and women's teams can place "a distinctive symbol" on their jerseys for the next season to proclaim their World TTT title.

There are 20 teams contesting the women's title and 50 teams contesting the men's title. Apart from the World Tour teams -  it is compulsory for them to compete - other teams were invited based on their Continental rankings as at 15 August.

Confirmed teams registered nine riders (with no regard for nationality) and on Saturday the teams will confirm their six starters. The riders do not have to be chosen from those selected by their national bodies for the individual events - i.e. a rider may end up racing only the TTT at the Worlds.

To date three Kiwis have been named in their team's starting line up; Sam Bewley (Orica GreenEdge), Jesse Sergent (RadioShack Nissan Trek) and Linda Villumsen (Orica AIS). Garmin Sharp Barracuda have yet to confirm their roster - NZ's Jack Bauer was part of their winning TTT squad in the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.

Although they start and finish in the same place, the men's and women's routes are different. Both end in Valkenburg, just after the famous Cauberg climb - with its maximum gradient of 12% - but before then the men face two other climbs for a total race distance of 53.2km, while the women's teams take a route of 34.2km with one climb before the Cauberg.

The teams get a practise run along the course tomorrow.

Quick facts

Prizes

• Trophies for the men's and women's races
• 40,000 CHF for men (NZ$52k), 12,800 CHF (NZ$16.5k) for winning men's and women's teams (sliding scale down to 5th)
• No rainbow jersey - "The winning teams of the Men's and Women's events will be authorised to include a distinctive symbol on the riders' clothing and the various media used by the team starting the beginning of the following season until the end of the season."

Quaification

Based on rankings as at 15 August.

• the leading African UCI team on the Africa Tour in the team rankings
• the 5 leading Asian UCI teams on the America Tour in the team rankings 
• the 5 leading Asian UCI teams on the Asia Tour in the team rankings  
• the 20 leading European UCI teams on the Europe Tour in the team rankings 
• the leading Oceanian UCI team on the Oceanian Tour in the team rankings  
• Women - invitations sent to the 20 leading UCI Women's Teams in the team rankings 

Men's Trade Team qualifers

Women's Trade Team qualifiers