Glasgow World Championships 2023: Eight riders to watch in the elite men's road race

Remco Evenepoel gets set to defend the title he won in Wollongong, Australia last year

Remco Evenepoel
Remco Evenepoel won the Clásica San Sebastián for a third time in his last outing in the rainbow jersey
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The elite men’s road race is always one of the showpiece events of the World Championships, and Sunday’s race in Glasgow is bound to be a spectacular and frenetic affair on the fast and technical city centre circuit.

Coming hot on the back of the recent Tour de France, Sunday’s race will be given an extra edge by a lot of the contenders carrying their form from the Tour into the event.

On paper, the road race looks like it’s very much one for the Classics specialists. The 271 kilometre course, which features ten laps of a fast and twisty 14-kilometre Glasgow finishing circuit, is widely expected to be hit by rain.

All of those factors combined will mean that in order to get on the podium, riders will need to be prepared to fight and battle for position once they enter the city centre after arriving from Edinburgh.

Remco Evenepoel will return to defend his title, although he will face stiff competition from all angles, including from two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, who will arrive hungry for success after being defeated by Jonas Vingegaard once more at the Tour in July.

As well as Evenepoel and Pogačar, various Classics stars will line up for the race and be looking ahead to the circuits in Glasgow as the place to make their mark.

One notable absence in the field will be Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock. The Ineos Grenadiers rider is focussing on the mountain bike events later in the championships. Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay will also not be present due to injuries sustained at the recent Clásica San Sebastián.

In Pidcock’s absence, Great Britain will look to Fred Wright and Ben Turner as the team’s two protected riders in the battle for the rainbow jersey.

Here are Cycling Weekly’s eight picks for the elite men’s road race on Sunday. 

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