Taking place in Ponferrada, Spain, the UCI Road World Championships will be held from September 21-28. The racing begins with the team time trial and culminates with the men's elite road race on the final Sunday.
The World Championships return to Spain for the fist time since 2005 when Tom Boonen won on a flat city circuit in Madrid.
The week begins with Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Specialized-lululemon both aiming for three consecutive team time trial times although they will be challenged all the way for the coveted rainbow jerseys on offer for the winners.
Tony Martin (Germany) is looking to make history in the time trial and claim a record fourth straight rainbow jersey. In the men's road race there is a long list of likely winners of the gold medal with Fabian Cancellara (Switerzland), Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Simon Gerrans (Australia), Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Phillipe Gilbert (Belgium) and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) and defending champion Rui Costa (Portugal) all favourties on the testing course.
If the course proves to be less selective, John Degenkolb (Germany), Michael Matthews (Australia) and Nacer Bouhanni (France) have all proven themselves to be peaking at the right time with sprint stage wins at the Vuelta a España.
