Top contenders for the Worlds
The world’s best cyclists will compete for the title of World Champion in the Elite men’s competition on Sunday, October 3, in a 262.6km race from Melbourne to Geelong, Australia. The overwhelming favourite is Philippe Gilbert, but the
playing field isn’t so stacked as to place all the odds on the Belgian.
“Philippe Gilbert is ‘favorito numero uno’. This means that Belgium has to take the full weight of the race on its shoulders,” said Filippo Pozzato, a definite favourite himself.
Gilbert took two stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana with team Omega Pharma-Lotto thanks to his performance in hilly finishes. He has twice finished in eighth at the World Championships, but this has been his best season yet and the Belgium
team is build around getting him to the finish line. Pozzato’s season has been much slower, but he won the pre-Worlds race, the Herald Sun Cycling Classic, proving that he has adapted well to the Australian environment.
"I felt very good in the Vuelta as well. I didn't need this result to understand that I can do a good race next Sunday,” said Pozzato. “But Sunday will be different. Still, I am confident."
Spaniard Oscar Freire is one rider who is hard to predict, but his all-star team and the ideal course in Geelong definitely make him a serious contender, not to mention the fact that he is one of only two riders to ever have won the World Championships road
race three times, all between 1999 and 2004.
"The record must be in my legs not just in my head, although, in principle, I have the opportunity to enter history,” said Freire.
Besides Freire, defending champion Cadel Evans is the only other contender who has won the title before, and now he has the chance to take his second World Championship title on his home soil. He admits that the course is not ideal for
his strengths and is counting on the Australian motivation to deliver him into the top-five.
“That motivates me, but it’s a World Championship. I would always try to perform well, wherever the World Championships is being held,” said Evans.
Tour de France green jersey winner Thor Hushovd is a clear favourite if the race is to end in a bunch sprint. He finished the sprinters’ competition in the Tour ahead of Mark Cavendish and can replicate that here, since the hilly course involves too much
climbing for the Brit. Hushovd is no master of the climbs either and has no hope of being involved in a breakaway, but he can stick with the main pack over the hills long after Cavendish would be dropped.
“According to what people had been telling me beforehand the rainbow jersey was a possibility, but now that I’ve been able to check it out for myself, I’ll have to revise my ambitions,” said Cavendish.
American Tyler Farrar is Hushovd’s best competition in the event of a bunch sprint. He beat Cavendish in two sprints at the Vuelta a Espana and there’s no question that his climbing endurance is strong than that of the Brit. Plus, many of his regular Team
Garmin supporters will be backing him up on the American team.
Tags: