Everything is set for the start of the first-ever Road Worlds on African soil, nothing short of a historic milestone. As always, the program opens with the time trials, before moving on to the road races, with the ever-intriguing Mixed Team Relay in between.
The star is, of course, Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia), who will not only try to defend his road race title but also attempt the double by going for the time trial, where he’ll have to take on defending champion and hot favorite Remco Evenepoel (Belgium). In the road race, big names to watch include Isaac Del Toro (Mexico), Juan Ayuso (Spain), Richard Carapaz (Ecuador), Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark), Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley (Great Britain), Julian Alaphilippe (France), Ben Healy (Ireland), Jai Hindley (Australia), and Primož Roglič (Slovenia). Flying the flag for Italy will be Giulio Ciccone and Giulio Pellizzari.
In the women’s races, Giro d’Italia Women winner Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and runner-up Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) will take on Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France), as well as Dutch power duo Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland), and Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (Mauritius).
Among the U23s, all eyes will be on the last two winners of the Giro Next Gen, Jakob Omrzel (Slovenia) and Jarno Widar (Belgium). But contenders also include Lorenzo Mark Finn (Italy), Adrià Pericas (Spain), Maxime Decomble (France), and Callum Thornley (Great Britain).
