Rodriguez, Valverde lead Spain in World Championships road race

Joaquim Rodriguez, second in the Vuelta a Espana, and Alejandro Valverde, seventh, will top the Spanish team for the men's road race in the UCI World Championships in Richmond. Both Rodriguez and Valverde have good records at the World Championships with eight medals between them, however neither have ever donned the rainbow stripes. Valverde has a significant portion of them after a record six finishes on the podium without a win. In fact, it has been 11 years since Spain produced a world champion when Oscar Freire took his third in 2004.