Cyclingnews looks at the riders most likely to pull on the rainbow jersey on Sunday
Julian Alaphilippe (France) attacks on Salmon Hill (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
This Sunday's elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships will bring the curtain down on what's already been a hugely exciting and enjoyable week in Innsbruck, Austria.
With the elite women's road race taking place on Saturday, Sunday's race then brings proceedings to a close, and it's really anyone's guess which rider will stand on top of the podium in the rainbow jersey come Sunday evening.
Anyone's guess, but Cyclingnews will give it a go. Here, then, in the video above, are our 10 riders most likely to pull on the rainbow jersey.
France's Julian Alaphilippe would certainly be a hugely popular winner in Innsbruck this weekend. The 26-year-old can boast taking two Tour de France stage wins, victory at the Clasica San Sebastian, a stage and the overall at the Tour of Britain, and then a stage and the overall again at the Tour of Slovakia in the past couple of months alone.
The polka-dot jersey he won at the Tour, meanwhile, suggests that the climbs on the Austrian course shouldn't pose him too many problems, either.
Alaphilippe also has a strong teammate in Romain Bardet, who appears to be coming into form nicely in time for the Worlds. A mention, too, for a third member of the French national team, Thibaut Pinot, who won two mountain stages at the recent Vuelta a España.
The British team will be built around the Yates brothers, Simon and Adam, with both riders having ridden the Vuelta with Mitchelton-Scott: Simon for the win, which he duly achieved, and Adam as a domestique deluxe, with an eye on the Worlds road race.
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The Italian squad fields both Vincenzo Nibali and Gianni Moscon. The latter would perhaps not be the most popular winner, given his past indiscretions, but his recent form – winning the Coppa Agostoni and the Giro della Toscana – suggests that that the 24-year-old Sky rider has a very real chance in Innsbruck.
We've included defending champion Peter Sagan, too, as he may just surprise a few people, even if he doesn't prove capable of going all the way and actually coming away with a fourth rainbow jersey on what is an extremely tough, hilly course.
Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
