Mathieu van der Poel: 'I'm not the strongest but I'm one of the favourites for the Worlds road race'

The Dutchman says the weather conditions will play a significant part in the race

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel says he's not the strongest rider in the Yorkshire 2019 World Championships men's road race, but admits he is one of the small group of favourites that can win it.

The long 285km course punctuated with short sharp climbs means riders of varying styles could do well, with punchy climbers like Julian Alaphilippe (France) and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) in contention with strong Classics riders like Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Greg Van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) and Michael Matthews (Australia).

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