1.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
2.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
3.
Varese
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Varese is a city and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy,55 kilometres north of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Varese, the hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto. The city of Varese lies at the feet of Sacro Monte di Varese, part of the Campo dei Fiori mountain range, that hosts an astronomical observatory, as well as the Prealpino Geophysical Centre. The village which is in the middle of the mountain is called Santa Maria del Monte because of the medieval sanctuary, which is reached through the avenue of the chapels of the Sacred Mountain. Varese is situated on seven hills, the San Pedrino Hill, the Giubiano Hill, the Campigli Hill, the SantAlbino Hill, the Biumo Superiore Hill, Colle di Montalbano, the city also looks over Lake Varese. Vareses winters are less mitigated by the proximity of the Lago Maggiore, low temperatures in the late autumn and winter frequently go down a few degrees below zero. This differentiates it from south of the city. As in other cities in the foothills of Lombardy, fog is an infrequent phenomenon, Varese is on average cooler than other cities of the Lombard Prealps, especially in winter. The rainfall of Varese is among the highest in Italy, with more than 1,500 millimetres of annual average, in winter, snow falls quite frequently, especially in January. Varese, like the province, has a high immigrant population owing to both its economy and its location. In 1859, Giuseppe Garibaldi confronted Austrian forces led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Carl Baron Urban near Varese, also, it was here where Alessandro Marchettis Savoia-Marchetti SM.93 made his first test flights. In particular, the movements are incoming and internally to Varese. In the average weekday over 113,000 vehicles enter in Varese, the most used form of transportation in Varese is the private vehicle, followed by the local public transport. The A8 motorway connects Varese with Milan and this motorway was part of the first toll road system in the world. The city has also a Ring Road System, Vareses Ring Road, consists of a road currently in operation, many important statal and provincial roads pass through Varese. The entire rail network serving the capital is electrified, in addition, there is a project under way to connect Varese with Malpensa Airport, this line would then continue past Varese to Mendrisio and Lugano in Switzerland. International bus services are operated by Swiss Post Bus of the line 523 that link Varese to Lugano, in Varese there is also a funicular service on the line Vellone-Sacro Monte. The city is home to the Sacro Monte di Varese, a place of pilgrimage and it is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included on the UNESCO World Heritage list
4.
Mark Cavendish
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Mark Simon Cavendish MBE is a British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team Dimension Data. As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, as a road cyclist, Cavendish turned professional in 2005, and achieved a record eleven wins in his first professional season. Cavendish has won thirty Tour de France stages, putting him second on the all-time list and he won the road race at the 2011 road world championships, becoming the second British rider to do so after Tom Simpson in 1965. Other notable wins include the 2009 Milan–San Remo classic and the classification in all three of the grand tours, the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2011 Tour de France. In 2012 he became the first person to win the final Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years, in the Queens Birthday Honours 2011, Cavendish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to British Cycling. He won the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, Cavendish was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, the son of David also from the Isle, and Adele from Yorkshire, England. He began riding BMX at an age, racing at the National Sports Centre in Douglas. He said, I was always riding a bike, getting dropped in little races and my mum would laugh at me, and I said it was because all my mates had mountain bikes, so I asked for a mountain bike for my thirteenth birthday and got one. The very next day I went out and beat everyone and it was at that time that Cavendish met David Millar at a race on the Isle of Man. Cavendish said he was inspired by Millar, Cavendish worked in a bank for two years after leaving school to earn enough money for an attempt at a professional career. He won two medals at the 2003 Island Games. He won gold in the madison with Rob Hayles at the 2005 track world championships in Los Angeles and they had not raced together before. They finished one lap ahead of the field to claim the medal, ahead of the Dutch and Belgian teams. Cavendish also won the 2005 European championship points race, Cavendish turned professional in 2005 with Team Sparkasse. He rode the Tour de Berlin and Tour of Britain, Cavendish began 2006 with the Continental team, Team Sparkasse, a feeder squad for T-Mobile Team. In June, he won two stages and the points and sprint competitions in the Tour de Berlin and he rode for the Isle of Man on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, riding the scratch race. He lapped the field with three others, Rob Hayles, Ashley Hutchinson of Australia, and James McCallum of Scotland, Hayles then led him out for the sprint to win gold for the Isle of Man. The race time was 2325, an average 51.9 km/h and his success at the Tour de Berlin led to a post as a stagiaire with T-Mobile Team from August until the end of the season
5.
Tony Martin (cyclist)
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Tony Martin is a German professional road bicycle racer riding for the UCI WorldTeam Team Katusha–Alpecin. Martin is known as a time trial specialist, and is four-times a world champion in the discipline and he also won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, finishing runner-up to Bradley Wiggins in the event. Martin has also been a part of three world championship-winning team time trial squads with Omega Pharma–Quick-Step/Etixx–Quick-Step, in 2012,2013 and 2016. Martin has also won five Grand Tour individual time trial stages and he has also won several stage races, including the Eneco Tour, Paris–Nice and the first two editions of the Tour of Beijing in 2011 and 2012. Born in Cottbus, East Germany, Martin and the rest of his family escaped from East Germany shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, later, he returned to the Eastern part of Germany to attend sport school in Erfurt. In 2009, Martin won time-trials in the Critérium International and the Bayern-Rundfahrt and he also featured strongly in week-long stage races, winning the mountain classifications at Paris–Nice and the Tour de Suisse, finishing second overall and winning a stage in the latter. He took the medal in the time trial at the UCI World Championships at the end of the season. Martin enjoyed more success in time trials, winning his first national title as well as stages in the Tour of California. Martin finished second in both the prologue and the Stage 19 individual time trial of the Tour de France, following the Tour de France, Martin finished 1st overall in the Eneco Tour, as well as the seventh stage time trial and the young rider classification. Martin again took the medal at the time trial at the UCI World Championships. 2011 saw Martin claim overall victories in the Volta ao Algarve and Paris–Nice and he also finished second overall in the Tour de Romandie, and won the time trial in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Martin won his first Grand Tour stage by taking victory in the Stage 20 individual time trial of the Tour de France and he also won the stage 10 time trial in the Vuelta a España. In September, Martin won the medal in the time trial at the UCI World Championships in Copenhagen. He then won the time trial of the inaugural Tour of Beijing. Following the announcement that HTC–Highroad would fold at the end of 2011, Martin began 2012 with second overall in the Volta ao Algarve, finishing second to Bradley Wiggins by less than a second in the final time trial. In April, Martin lost consciousness after colliding with a car during training and sustained injuries, Martin returned to action at the Tour of Belgium in May, winning the time trial on Stage 4 and taking the overall victory. At the Tour de France, Martins hopes of winning the prologue, were dashed by a problem that forced him to switch bikes on course. Martin then crashed the following day on Stage 1, suffering a broken wrist, Martin was deemed fit enough to compete, and he claimed silver at the Olympics behind Wiggins
6.
Bradley Wiggins
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Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He is the rider to have combined winning both World and Olympic championships on both the track and the road, as well as winning the Tour de France. In addition, he has worn the leaders jersey in each of the three Grand Tours of cycling and as of 2016 holds the record in team pursuit. The son of the Australian cyclist Gary Wiggins, Wiggins was born to a British mother in Ghent, Belgium and he competed on the track from the early part of his career until 2008. Between 2000 and 2008 he won ten medals at the world championships, of which six were gold. On the road, Wiggins turned professional in 2001, but made it his focus from 2008. He signed with the newly formed Team Sky in 2010, and in 2011 he claimed his first victory in a stage race in the Critérium du Dauphiné. In 2012, Wiggins won the Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France and the time trial at the Olympic Games. In 2014, he won gold in the trial at the road world championships. Wiggins returned to the track at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in 2016, he won a further world championship in the madison, and gold in the team pursuit at the Olympics, his fifth successive medal winning appearance at the Games. He retired from all forms of cycling on 28 December 2016. Wiggins was awarded a CBE in 2009, Wiggins was born on 28 April 1980 in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father, Gary Wiggins, and a British mother, Linda. His father lived in Belgium as a professional cyclist and his father left the family when Wiggins was two. Wiggins moved with his mother to her parents house in Villiers Road, Willesden Green, north-west London and he was educated at St Augustines junior school and then St Augustines Church of England High School in Kilburn, where his mother was a secretary. He has a younger half-brother, Ryan, from his mother and her partner Brendan and she explained it was one of the events at which his father had been successful. He watched the rest of the Olympics and fell in love with cycling, in 1992, aged 12, he entered his first race, the West London Challenge 92, on the unopened A312 dual carriageway in Hayes, west London. Later that year he broke a collarbone in a road accident and he received £1,700 compensation for his injuries. He gave his mother £700 and used the rest to buy his first racing bicycle, at 12, he recalled, I told my art teacher, Im going to be Olympic champion, Im going to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour
7.
Fabian Cancellara
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Fabian Cancellara, nicknamed Spartacus, is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI ProTeam Trek–Segafredo. He was born in Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland, Cancellara began road cycling after falling in love with an old bike at the age of thirteen. After that, he began to take the more seriously. At age nineteen he turned professional and signed with the Mapei–Quick-Step team and he is known for being a quality time trialist, a classics specialist, and a workhorse for his teammates that have general classification aspirations. The following season saw fewer victories, but his 2006 season saw a victory in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. Cancellara repeated as champion in the time trial the next year. During the 2008 calendar he won gold at the Summer Olympics in the time trial event. The next season saw Cancellara again become world time trial champion, in 2010, he won the Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Cancellaras 2011 and 2012 campaigns were both short in number of victories, while the latter was hampered by injuries throughout, after a lackluster two-year period, Cancellara again won the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix double in 2013. In 2014, Cancellara repeated as winner of the Tour of Flanders, since turning professional in 2000, Cancellara has ridden for four professional teams. He has achieved success in the classics, he has won Paris–Roubaix three times, the Milan–San Remo once, and the Tour of Flanders three times. Cancellara has won the stage of the Tour de France five times and has led the race for 29 days total. His success has not been limited to just time trials and classics, as he has won general classification of the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tour de Suisse, in 2008, he won gold in the individual time trial and silver in the mens road race at the Summer Olympics. In 2016, he won Olympic gold in the time trial for the second time in his career. In addition, Cancellara has been the time world champion four times in his career. Fabian Cancellara was born on 18 March 1981, in Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland and he discovered cycling at the age of 13 after falling in love with an old family bike that he had found in the garage and immediately gave up football to concentrate on cycling. In addition, Cancellara excelled at cross-country skiing during his youth, Cancellaras cycling skills began to blossom at an early age, when he impressed as a time trialist and dominated Swiss junior cycling. Yvan Girard, Swiss national junior team coach from 1997 to 2005, was quoted saying that Cancellara was head and shoulders above everyone else in the time trials
8.
Marianne Vos
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Marianne Vos, is a Dutch cyclo-cross, road bicycle racer, mountain bike racer and track racer who has drawn comparison to Eddy Merckx as being the finest cyclist of generation. After winning a junior European and world championship in road racing, she continued her success in cycling by becoming world champion in cyclo-cross. Vos added track racing world championships when she won the race in 2008. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won the medal in the points race, at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is a 3 times World Road Race Champion – in 2006,2012 and 2013 – and 7 times World Cyclocross Champion – in 2006,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 and 2014. Marianne Vos was born in s-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant and lives in the village of Babyloniënbroek. She started her career when she was six years old after watching her brother who was already a cyclist. At first she trained with her brothers team as she was not allowed to participate in races, when she was eight, she was able to ride races. Vos also participated in speed skating and inline speed skating, at 14 she replaced inline skating with mountain biking. In 2002 she won two championships and finished second in another. She became Dutch mountain biking champion and won the junior road race. In 2003 Vos successfully defended her national junior mountain bike title, at the time trial championships she again finished second, this time behind Maxime Groenewegen while 2002 champion Roxane Knetemann finished fourth. Vos excelled in cyclo-cross for the first time in 2004 when she won her first international race in Gieten, beating Birgit Hollmann and she finished third in the Dutch junior road race and time trial, unable to beat Ellen van Dijk who won both events. Continuing her cyclo-cross season she added wins in Surhuisterveen and Pijnacker-Nootdorp, in the last she beat Hanka Kupfernagel and Daphny van den Brand. For the third time she became Dutch junior champion in mountain biking before heading to Verona for the junior road world championship. Aged 17 and a junior, Vos broke away in the final of five laps on the climb. She stayed clear and became world champion, at the end of 2004 Vos was elected Sport FM Sportswoman of the year 2004. As junior world champion Vos claimed her first Dutch junior national title in front of 2004 champion Ellen van Dijk
9.
Judith Arndt
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Judith Arndt is a German professional cyclist for the GreenEDGE-AIS cycling team. She won the medal in the 3000 m pursuit event at the 1996 Summer Olympics when she was 20. In 2004 she won the road race championship and came second in the Olympic road race. Arndt won the individual pursuit championship four times and Olympic bronze in the same competition. But a viral infection during the 2000 Summer Olympics – causing a disappointing outcome – marked the turning in her career. In two years, she finished third in the Grande Boucle in 2003, won the Tour de lAude twice, and added a silver medal in the road time trial at the 2003 world championship in Hamilton, Ontario. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece she won silver in the road race and she finished first in the UCI world ranking. In 2005 she won the national championship for the sixth time. Arndt was appointed as a member of the inaugural UCI Athletes Commission in 2011, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Great Britain she competed in the Womens road race and won silver in the time trial. She also competed on the track in the Womens team pursuit for the national team, Arndt has lived in Leipzig since 1996, with her partner, fellow cyclist Petra Rossner. The couple became Gay Games ambassadors in 2005, in 2012, after the World Cup, she was in a relationship with Australian lawyer, and former cyclist Anna Wilson, and moved to Melbourne. Official website Judith Arndt profile at Cycling Archives Judith Arndt profile at Cycling Quotient Judith Arndt profile at ProCyclingStats Judith Arndt at Sports Reference
10.
2010 UCI Road World Championships
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The 2010 UCI Road World Championships took place in Geelong and Melbourne, Australia, over 5 days from 29 September to 3 October 2010. It was the 77th UCI Road World Championships and the first time that Australia had held the event, coincidentally, the titles defender at the road race was an Australian, Cadel Evans, who has a home in Barwon Heads, only 20 km from Geelong. The events were spread over five days, allowing time for those riders wishing to take part in both the time trial and the road race. 444 cyclists from 49 national federations participated, the number of cyclists per nation that competed is shown in parentheses. Official website UCI Website for Road World Championships
11.
Loreto, Marche
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Loreto is a hilltown and comune of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche. It is most commonly known as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, Loreto is located 127 metres above sea level on the right bank of the Musone river. It is 22 kilometres by rail south-southeast of Ancona, like many places in the Marche, it provides good views from the Apennines to the Adriatic. The city has also a line of walls designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Notes Official website Official website of the sanctuary Catholic Encyclopedia article Loreto
12.
Linda Villumsen
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Linda Melanie Villumsen Serup is a Danish-born road racing cyclist who became a New Zealand citizen in 2009 and has ridden under a Kiwi licence from 2010. She won the European under 23 time trial championship in 2006 and 2007 and she was Danish national champion in both road racing and time trialing in 2006,2008 and 2009. In 2006, Cycling World named her their Cyclist of the Year, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she finished 5th in the womens road race and 13th in the time trial. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London she finished 18th in the race and fourth in the time trial. Villumsen won the Route de France Féminine in 2006 and 2013, from 2008 to 2014 she placed 10th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 9th in world championships time trials. From 2012 to 2014 she placed 7th, 6th and 8th in world championships road races, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games she won the gold medal in the road time trial and placed 5th in the road race. In September 2014 the UnitedHealthcare Womens Team announced that they had signed Villumsen for the 2015 season after two seasons with Wiggle-Honda, in September 2015 Villumsen won the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia. Afterwards, her team, UnitedHealthCare, almost dropped her for riding her team issue New Zealand frame instead of her normal Wilier Cento Time Trial bike. The NZ teams bike, with its geometry, meant she could get much lower. Villumsen is the only New Zealand senior cyclist to win a medal at the UCI Road World Championships. Villumsens long term partner is retired English cyclist Emma Trott, who in turn is the sister to Olympic Gold medallist Laura Trott
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Great Britain
Australia
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Germany
Denmark
Italy
Belgium
New Zealand
Netherlands
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