Ahead of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, Cyclingnews is taking a deep dive into the key teams for the elite road races. Next up: Great Britain.
History
The most recent British winner at the elite World Championships was Lizzie Deignan in 2015. She has been the squad’s reliable performer over the last decade, also finishing fourth in 2016 and sixth in 2020. Pregnancy means the Trek-Segafredo star is not racing this season, with her second child due this month.
Before her, Nicole Cooke pulled on the rainbow bands after her triumph in 2008.
Meanwhile, sixth place for Tom Pidcock in Leuven last year was the first top-10 finish in four years for the men’s team. Mark Cavendish finished as runner-up in Doha to Peter Sagan in 2016. It’s 11 years since he pulled on the rainbow jersey, sprinting to victory in Copenhagen.
Line-ups
Women elite
- Elynor Bäckstedt (Trek-Segafredo)
- Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM)
- Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma)
- Elizabeth Holden (Le Col-Wahoo)
- Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx)
- Alice Towers (Le Col-Wahoo)
Men elite
- Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ)
- Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Connor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic)
- Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious)
Key riders
Ethan Hayter and Fred Wright were teammates many moons ago growing up in south London; thousands of miles away, they will be the frontmen for Great Britain in Wollongong.
The versatile Wright has good form and high confidence after a scintillating summer where he has done everything except win, contending in numerous Tour de France and Vuelta a España breakaways and mixing it at the sharp end of bunch sprints – although he won’t be on Primož Roglič’s Christmas card list.
Hayter’s Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta was curtailed by a COVID-19 positive, forcing him to abandon after stage 9. The Tour of Poland winner may well be a better bet for time trial contention than road race silverware, though his fast finish makes him a rider to be wary of from a small group.
21-year-old Ben Tulett could be a man to join a mid-race breakaway too. The 56kg climber is developing strongly, winning a Settimana Coppi e Bartali stage this spring and finishing fifth at the Tour of Poland. Making his elite Worlds debut, this will be the longest race of his life.
Experienced duo Ben Swift and Luke Rowe will act as road…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…