Roads closed as cycling world championships reach final stages

Glasgow city centre has been closed for a number of road races

Roads in Glasgow city centre and the west end are again closed this weekend as the final events are held in the UCI Cycling World Championships.

Glasgow's City Centre Circuit has already seen roads shut for five full days for races such as the Men's Elite World Championships last weekend.

The nine-mile circuit is closed again on Saturday and Sunday for two races including the Women's Elite.

There will also be further rolling road closures across central Scotland.

Both the Men's Under-23 race on Saturday and the Women's Elite Race on Sunday follow a route from Loch Lomond to Glasgow via Stirlingshire and East Dunbartonshire.

The route starts at Balloch then heads north to Drymen before winding back down via Balfron, Fintry and the famous Crow Road summit, before heading into Glasgow via Lennoxtown and Bearsden.

Competitors in both races will complete six laps of the city centre circuit before finishing at George Square.

The steep ramp of Montrose Street was the focal point of the Glasgow city centre circuit for the Men's race last week

Roads around Balloch and Loch Lomond will be affected all weekend and there will be rolling closures while the races are in action.

The Glasgow circuit will again see much of the city centre closed and also roads out past the Kelvingrove to Hillhead and Byres Road.

Last week's Men's Elite Race, won by Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel, was halted for an hour by environmental protesters who staged a demonstration on a narrow stretch of the B818 near the Carron Valley Reservoir.

Protest group This Is Rigged later said it would make no further attempts to disrupt the cycling championships.

Elite cyclists were stopped by a demonstration in the Carron Valley area

The UCI World Cycling Championships are the major titles for one-day road racing.

Last year's Women's Elite race was won by Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands.

This year's event brings to an end 11 days of action featuring more than 8,000 competitors.

For the first time ever, the world's best cyclists across a range of disciplines were brought together for one "mega event".

Scotland hosted events across the country - from mountain biking in the Tweed Valley to elite track cycling in Glasgow's Sir Chris Hoy velodrome.

It also featured time trials around Stirling, para-cycling road races in Dumfries and a special Gran Fondo event in Perth and Dundee.