The Great Britain team heading to Zürich for the Road World Championships features several medal contenders and a plethora of big names.
The best chance of gold medal success may have already come in the time trial with Josh Tarling, who finished in fourth place, 24 seconds off bronze. That is, despite a plethora of strength in depth in the elite men’s road race squad.
History
Great Britain have historically been among the more successful nations at the Road World Championships, though still lag some way behind the traditional cycling nations such as Italy, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.
Over the years, 10 rainbow jerseys have been taken home by British riders in the elite events, with road race victories by Beryl Burton (1960, 1967) and Tom Simpson (1969) in the distant past followed up by a flurry of successes in the 2010s.
Mark Cavendish (2011) and Lizzie Deignan (2015) both took home road race rainbows during that golden decade, while Emma Pooley (2010) and Bradley Wiggins (2014) won time trial titles.
Since that most recent rainbow jersey nine years ago, however, success has been harder to come by. Great Britain has won three medals since Armitstead’s triumph – Mark Cavendish’s road race silver in 2016, Chris Froome’s time trial bronze in 2017, and Josh Tarling‘s time trial bronze last year.
They’re tied with the USA for seventh in the overall medal table in that timeframe, behind the Netherlands (27), Belgium (13), Australia (11), Italy (9), Switzerland (7), Denmark (5), and France (4).
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Lineups
Elite Men: Mark Donovan, James Knox, Tom Pidcock, Oscar Onley, Jake Stewart, Josh Tarling, Stevie Williams, Adam Yates, Simon Yates
Elite Women: Elinor Barker, Anna Henderson, Lizzie Holden, Claire Steels
U23 Men: Joe Blackmore, Matthew Brennan, Josh Charlton, Bob Donaldson, Oliver Stockwell, Louis Sutton, Callum Thornley, Ben Wiggins
U23 Women (combined with elites): Josie Nelson, Alice Towers
Junior Men: Oliver Dawson, Seb Grindley, Elliot Rowe, Dylan Sage, Fin Tarling
Junior Women: Arabella Blackburn, Cat Ferguson, Carys Lloyd, Imogen Wolff, Esther Wong
Key Riders
Josh Tarling (Time trial): At the age of just 20, Tarling likely represented Great Britain’s best chance of a rainbow jersey or a medal of any colour in Zürich, having won the nation’s first medal since 2017 in Glasgow last August.
The time trial specialist leapt straight from the junior ranks to the pros in 2023, converting his junior world title to an elite bronze medal in the process, comfortably beating riders including Brandon McNulty, Wout van Aert, and defending world champion Tobias Foss.
He went on to take the elite European title a year ago before this summer winning the British time trial title. At the Paris Olympic Games, he agonisingly missed bronze by just two seconds and wasn’t too far back from Remco Evenepoel’s gold medal position at 28 seconds back.
Tarling was a prime contender for glory in the time trial on Sunday, but finished just out of the medal positions having started his run with a third place at the opening checkpoint.
There’s every chance that the TT represented the nation’s best chance of success in Zürich. Now, the road race squad will have to put together a big performance next weekend if the team is to leave Switzerland with a medal.
Tom Pidcock: Men’s road race team leader Tom Pidcock – already a world champion in cyclo-cross and mountain bike – heads up a deep squad and will lead the charge in the battle against top favourites Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel
From the outside, it’s hard to gauge the 25-year-old’s form. A crash saw him leave the recent Tour of Britain with a concussion on the final stage, forcing him out of potential Worlds warm-ups at the GP Québec and GP Montréal.
However, he did score several top 10 placings in Britain, his third outing on the road since winning Olympic gold on the mountain bike in Paris and will have had a couple of weeks of targeted training under his belt since.
With wins at Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race plus top 10s at the Leuven Worlds and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on his palmarès, Pidcock is Great Britain’s premier, proven one-day contender. Despite the strength of the team, all eyes will be on him for a British result on Sunday.
Stevie Williams: 28-year-old Williams is the wildcard of the men’s squad at the road race, with the debutant having enjoyed a breakout season this year.
In recent seasons, the Welshman has taken the overall title at the Arctic Race of Norway and a stage win at the Tour de Suisse, but he’s ascended to another level altogether during the 2024 campaign.
His performances on Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty saw Williams secure the Tour Down Under title in January before delivering the biggest win of his career to date at La Flèche Wallonne three months later. He’s in top form now, too, having recently won two stages and the overall at the Tour of Britain.
The 274km lying ahead of him this week is an entirely new challenge, however, with Williams having not yet featured as a contender at a race of such length. He finished 3:42 down at the Paris Olympic Games road race, the longest race of his career to date – one which also featured just 2,900 metres of elevation in comparison to 4,200 here.
Williams isn’t among the top tier of contenders here, then, but he’s one of several options for Great Britain to mix things up and go on the offensive alongside Oscar Onley, Adam Yates and Simon Yates.
Anna Henderson: While the British men can look to a top contender, nine riders, and plenty of strength in depth for the road race, it’s a bit of a different story for the women. Henderson is the nation’s best – and barring a big surprise, only – hope at an elite women’s rainbow jersey or a medal in Zürich.
Last year, she missed time trial bronze by a devastatingly close two-second margin on home ground in Stirling, but she’s more than made up for it since with silvers at last year’s European Championships and again in Paris at the Olympic Games this summer.
Henderson finished seventh and 50 seconds away from bronze in Sunday’s time trial, meaning one chance at a medal – even if she wasn’t a top favourite – has passed.
In the road race, she’ll lead a six-rider squad, heading into the race as an outsider rather than a medal favourite as she was for the time trial. Henderson’s record at major championships includes 13th place in Paris, albeit 2:36 off the medal positions and an eighth place on the Col du VAM at last year’s European Championships.
She’s also been there or thereabouts in several Classics races – including Amstel Gold Race, Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders – in recent years, leading the Visma-Lease A Bike squad alongside Marianne Vos.
She may not head up the favourites list in Zürich unlike Vos’ Dutch teammates, but Henderson is definitely one to watch on Sunday.
Strengths
The strength of the men’s squad comes in its depth, with a list of top-quality riders filling out the nine-man selection alongside leader Pidcock. Onley and Williams may be debutants on Sunday, but any moves by them won’t be ignored by the other big nations, while the Yates brothers don’t have much of a record at the Worlds but, of course, they’re always dangerous.
The women’s team, meanwhile, can head into the race knowing they’ll be focused entirely on one leader, even if chances at scoring a road race medal look slightly lower than for Pidcock and co. With no radios out on the road, there’ll be no confusion as to team tactics and goals.
Weaknesses
Neither the men’s nor the women’s squads boast a top favourite for the rainbow jersey among their ranks. Pidcock is in the list of riders in the mix for a medal while Henderson is an outsider, but you have to look abroad to Tadej Pogačar, Demi Vollering, Remco Evenepoel, and Lotte Kopecky for the biggest favourites.
The view from Great Britain
The golden era of British Cycling, spanning the primes of Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and the unstoppable Olympic track team, is long gone, and with it so has the attention on cycling, which remains a niche sport in the country.
Back then, it was all about the Tour de France and the Olympics, even as Cavendish, Wiggins, Pooley and Deignan won world titles. It’s the same nowadays, even if the nation currently boasts a strong group of riders at Worlds and beyond.
Still, there are medal chances throughout the week, despite Great Britain’s best chances at winning one possibly having already passed by.
