1954 UCI Road World Championships
The UCI Road World Championships 1954 were held on the blade ring in Solingen on 21 and 22 August. Thus, there were nine years after the end of World War II and four years after the resumption of the Federal German cyclists in the world Cycliste International Union Association again held Cycling World Championships in Germany. Finally, a cycling world championships in 1934 in Leipzig been focused on German soil.
Racing
The World Championships of professional drivers and the amateurs were performed on the 15 km long blade ring. The leading around Solingen route presented with their steep slopes and difficult descents high demands on the driver. Adverse weather conditions made drivers and spectators to create.
In the race of professionals 71 riders took to the start, which had to cope with 16 rounds or 240 km at constant rain and cold. The Italian defending champion Fausto Coppi rode up to the 15th round in a top group, but then fell back by a fall. The Tour de France winner 1954 Louison Bobet of France and the Swiss Fritz Schär it to break away from the group and meet down an only aim succeeded. Although Bobet had at the beginning of the last lap a defect, but an archipelago fetched again and took him on target for 15 seconds. The 29 -year-old Bobet was so by his fellow countryman Georges memory the second rider, who won in a year, the Tour de France and the Road World Championships. Bobet needed for his World Championship victory with an average speed of 32.9 km / h Behind the two front-runners, the only 20-strong field of riders had been completely torn, at long intervals passed the driver individually to the finish line. Defending champions Coppi was 3:38 minutes behind in sixth. Of eight German drivers only two could finish the race: Franz and Günther Reitz Pankoke came as Penultimate and Last hand in hand rolled to the finish, with just under 24 minutes behind the winner.
In the amateurs started 125 active, 51 of them finished the 150 km long race. With an average speed of 34.25 km / h, the 22- year-old Belgian Emiel Van Cauter won by over a minute ahead of his pursuers. For the first time, the Cycling Federation participated in the GDR at the World Cup. The Leipzig Gustav -Adolf Schur was sixth best German. Of the assets of the Federal German cyclist Hennes Junker man finished 10th as Best.