Simon Yates has identified Julian Alaphilippe as the man to beat in Sunday’s elite men’s race at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Innsbruck.
La Vuelta winner Yates will race alongside twin brother Adam in Great Britain’s eight-member team, with both considered strong contenders on a challenging 258.5km route which suits their climbing strengths.
But many eyes are on the powerful French team, which includes Alaphilippe – winner of the King of the Mountains classification in this year’s Tour de France – as well as the likes of Romain Bardet, Rudy Molard, Warren Barguil, Thibaut Pinot and Tony Gallopin.
“I think Alaphilippe is the main favourite, you have to look at him,” Simon said.
“He’s in very good form, he’s won many good races and he’s backed by a very good team, for sure the strongest team. They have many cards to play so it’s not just him.”
Simon also picked out Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde while Adam threw the net wider, saying he would not rule out reigning world champion Peter Sagan winning a fourth rainbow jersey in a row despite a course most think is too difficult for the Slovakian – particularly the brutal 28 per cent gradients of the final climb.
“You can’t count him out, can you?” he said. “You saw in the Rio Olympics when Greg Van Avermaet won. Everyone said it was too hard and then a classics guy pulled out the win.
“We all know how good (Alaphilippe) is uphill and downhill, but I don’t think there’s any one favourite.”
