Cavendish, Froome and Armitstead named on Britain's World Champs long list

Tour de France winner Chris Froome, 2011 World Champion Mark Cavendish and 2014 Women's World Cup winner Lizzie Armitstead are among the names on the long list announced by British Cycling for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, USA, over September 19-27.

Froome and Cavendish are among the 13 elite male riders named that will fill the nine road race and two time trial places that Britain has qualified for the 2015 Worlds. It's a strong list of riders that rivals anything any other nation could offer, not least due to the presence of Tour winner Froome - who is currently contesting the Vuelta a España in Spain.

Both Adam and Simon Yates are also on the list, with Tour stage winner Steve Cummings, Adam Blythe, Alex Dowsett, Andy Fenn, Luke Rowe, Geraint Thomas, Scott Thwaites, Ian Stannard and Ben Swift completing the provisional line up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntmy2x6YWCE

Cavendish rode the Richmond course in May, and it is seen as another opportunity for him to take the victory after several years of unfavourably hilly courses since his memorable 2011 win in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dowsett and Froome are mooted to take the time trial places.

>>> Mark Cavendish analyses 2015 Richmond World Championships course (video)

Armitstead tops an equally strong line-up of eight British women named, from which six will ride the road race and two in the time trial. Armitstead is joined by Alice Barnes, Hannah Barnes, Lucy Coldwell, Lucy Garner, Jessie Walker, Molly Weaver and time trial specialist Hayley Simmonds.

Britain's under-23 men also have a strong chance of a medal in Richmond, with the likes of Owain Doull and Sky stagiaires Tao Geoghegan Hart and Alex Peters named.

“We’ve got a very strong long list of riders from which we will select the final team, and there are some really exciting prospects in the mix including a few riders who sit outside the British Cycling programme structure," said GB Team's Iain Dyer. "We will be announcing the final team for the UCI Road World Championships in due course.”

British Cycling 2015 World Championships long list

Elite Men (road race nine places, time trial two places)

Adam Blythe

Mark Cavendish

Steve Cummings

Alex Dowsett

Andy Fenn

Chris Froome

Luke Rowe

Geraint Thomas

Scott Thwaites

Ian Stannard

Ben Swift

Adam Yates

Simon Yates

Elite Women (road race six places, time trial two places)

Lizzie Armitstead

Alice Barnes

Hannah Barnes

Lucy Coldwell

Lucy Garner

Hayley Simmonds

Jessie Walker

Molly Weaver

U23 Men (road race five places, time trial two places)

Hugh Carthy

Gabriel Cullaigh

Scott Davies

Owain Doull

Tao Geoghegan Hart

Matt Gibson

Chris Latham

Chris Lawless

Alex Peters

James Shaw

Junior Men (road race three places, time trial two places)

Nathan Draper

Alex Braybrooke

Joey Walker

Joe Holt

Joseph Fry

Matthew Bostock

Junior Women (road race four places, time trial two places)

Henrietta Colborne

Eleanor Dickinson

Grace Garner

Elizabeth Holden

Abby-Mae Parkinson