That’s right – I said “walks”… While the pros took to the course on their race machines for the recon laps, PEZ went one step further… actually it was several thousand steps… In our never-ending quest to provide even more in depth Worlds coverage, PEZ-man Ed Hood walked the entire men’s road race circuit for our up-closest preview ever!

“Bettini and Pozzato will be our men. We are looking for the highest result and we’ve got the right men and the right concentration to get it. I think it will be a very difficult race...” So said Italian national team coach Franco Ballerini to Gazzetta dello Sport last week. But his team is stacked with leaders...and that strategy has backfired in the past...

The red cruise missile has locked-on, it’s skimming the ground and will be upon us in seconds – it’s not a real cruise missile, it’s actually super-star to-be, Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway, but he’s riding at cruise missile speed. I’m in the following car of Gatis Smukulis of Latvia who’s been battering huge gears through these leafy loops around the western side of Stuttgart in the World under-23 time trial championship.

After a difficult season for the German sprint ace, Zabel spoke to PEZ just ahead of the Stuttgart World's race about last year's finish and his prospects for this year.