Sallanches 2027 set to be the hardest Worlds of the century with brutal 5,700 metres of climbing

All six road race categories will use the same 13.3 kilometre circuit around Sallanches and Domancy. The difference comes in the number of laps. At the centre of the course is the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5 kilometre climb averaging 9.4 percent and reaching gradients of 16 percent. Each lap contains 285 metres of climbing.

For the elite men, that circuit will be completed 20 times. The result is a 265 kilometre race containing 5,700 metres of elevation gain. Rather than accumulating those metres through a handful of long Alpine passes, the difficulty will come from repeatedly tackling the same short and steep ascent.

The elite women and under 23 men will both complete 12 laps, covering 158.6 kilometres and 3,420 metres of climbing. The under 23 women and junior men face nine laps, for 118.7 kilometres and 2,565 metres, while the junior women will race six laps over 78.8 kilometres with 1,710 metres of elevation gain.

Sallanches comes with considerably more World Championship history than most host towns. The championships were held there in 1964 and 1980, with the latter edition becoming one of the most celebrated races in French cycling history.

Bernard Hinault won the rainbow jersey in 1980 after making the difference on the Côte de Domancy, the same climb around which the 2027 course has now been built. Forty seven years later, the climb will again form the main obstacle in the men's road race.

From the top of Domancy there are still roughly nine kilometres remaining on each lap, meaning the summit will not act as a conventional uphill finish. The descent and flatter roads back towards Sallanches leave room for regrouping, although the cumulative damage of twenty ascents is likely to become increasingly significant as the race progresses.

The time trials will be held on a separate course around Lake Annecy, giving the specialists a very different test from the repeated climbing of the Sallanches road circuit.

The elite men, elite women and both under 23 categories will race over 37.2 kilometres, with 265 metres of elevation gain. The main obstacle is the Côte de Talloires, a 1.5 kilometre climb averaging 6.5 percent. It is enough to disrupt the rhythm of the pure time trial specialists, but the course remains far less mountainous than the road races.

Much of the route will be familiar from the 2026 Tour de France time trial around Annecy, won by Remco Evenepoel, although the World Championships course is not an exact copy. That recent reference should give riders and teams useful data on pacing, equipment choices and the key sections around the lake.

The junior races will start further along the route and cover 20.3 kilometres. The mixed relay will also use the elite time trial course, with the changeover point located at the same spot as the junior start.

The headline number of the men's race also puts the 2027 race into perspective.

Rwanda hosted the hardest men's World Championship road race of the 21st century in 2025. The Kigali course contained 5,475 metres of elevation gain across 267.5 kilometres, becoming the first Worlds of the century to pass the 5,000 metre mark.

Sallanches will go further still.

Its 5,700 metres represents 225 metres more climbing than Rwanda, despite the race being 2.5 kilometres shorter. On elevation gain alone, that puts the 2027 edition ahead of every men's World Championship road race held this century.

Wout van Aert has already described both Kigali and Sallanches as Worlds “really for climbers”, in contrast to Montréal this year.

That should bring a smile to Tadej Pogačar. His chance to race for a third straight world title disappeared after his Vuelta crash, but Sallanches could offer an ideal opportunity to reclaim the rainbow jersey, with twenty ascents of the Côte de Domancy and 5,700 metres of climbing.