Richmond, Virginia will host the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, the race returning to the USA for the first time since 1986, when they were held in Colorado Springs. Racing begins on September 20 with the men and women's team time trials, and culminates with the men's elite road race on the final Sunday.
The week begins with the BMC Racing Team aiming to repeat and Velocio-SRAM, formerly Specialized-lululemon, looking to sweep all four years since the team time trial was reintroduced to the championships.
Since the retirement of Bradley Wiggins from WorldTour road racing, Tony Martin (Germany) will look to add to his tally of four individual time trial titles. His fellow German Lisa Brennauer is still one of the world's top time trialists and looks to have a solid shot at repeating in Richmond.
The junior and U23 men and women round out the time trials and begin the four days of road racing on a hilly course that takes in three significant but short climbs in the final circuit. The steep, cobbled Libby Hill and 23rd Street climb are likely to splinter the peloton, with the difficult run up Governors Street in the final kilometer sure to select a power sprinter.
In the men's road race Peter Sagan (Slovakia) will be one of the main favourites, along with the Belgian trio Tom Boonen, Phillipe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet. One can never discount Alejandro Valverde (Spain), but his country could well be riding for Joaquim Rodriguez - and Valverde owes him one after handing the 2013 championship to Rui Costa (Portugal) on a silver platter.
John Degenkolb (Germany), Michael Matthews (Australia), Alexander Kristoff (Norway), and Nacer Bouhanni (France) are all strong candidates for the win if they can make it over Libby Hill.
Cyclingnews will bring you a daily podcast from the World Championships. You can subscribe to the podcast here so you don't miss an episode.
Take a look at our top 10 riders to watch for the men's road race here.
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U23 Men - Road Race - Ledanois becomes U23 World Champion | Richmond2015-09-25 162.2km
