For the fourth year in a row, the world championships WILL kick off with a team time trial for trade teams and in its short existence, the new invention has gained plenty of prestige. While many teams just hope to get safely through the day, it is an extremely important event for the teams that really specialize in the discipline. A mostly flat course in Richmond offers the perfect venue for the biggest specialists and there will be a fierce battle for the highly prestigious title as the world's strongest team.

 

OBS: We had announced that there would be no previews as the author suffered a broken collarbone and elbow in a crash last Sunday. However, the bones are healing better than expected which had made ii possible for us to change our plans.

 

When the UCI reintroduced the team time trial for the 2012 World Championships in Limburg, it was a re-emergence of a historical and prestigious event that had disappeared. From 1962 to 1994, the beautiful discipline was an important part of the road world championships and carried huge importance. However, like all other events at the global championships, it was a match between national teams who battled it out with 4-rider rosters over often long distances of around 100km.

 

When the UCI decided to put the discipline back on the Worlds programme, it was not in its original format. The international federation listened to the sponsors that wanted to get increased exposure in one of cycling's biggest events and made it one for the trade teams. Instead of a stand-alone battle between the national teams, the event was introduced as an opportunity to find the world's best among the teams that regularly battle each other in the discipline.

 

UCI could probably not have wished a better debut than the 2012 event in Limburg. From the very beginning, many of the teams placed huge emphasis on the race and organized specific training camps to prepare for the big day. Similarly, the riders greeted its welcome return and many of the specialists made it one of their end-of-season targets.

 

For many teams who don't specialize in the discipline, the race remains one to get over with but for the squads that excel in the collective race against the clock, it is a clear target with plenty of meticulous preparation and careful roster selections. When the reintroduction was announced, Garmin-Sharp even signed riders with the specific purpose of getting onto the top step of the podium in late September and Orica-GreenEDGE have had specific training camps to prepare the event for the last three years. In that sense, the event is like a time trial in a grand tour: for many of the teams it's just about getting safely through the day but for the few select specialists, it's of huge importance.

 

Unlike the other World Championships races, there's no rainbow jersey on offer and the winning team only gets the less visible recognition of a print on their jerseys. Despite this criticized fact, it's a huge honour for the teams to refer to themselves as the strongest in the world. While individual riders often get most attention in the usual races, this gives the teams and their sponsors a rare opportunity to put themselves in the spotlight and alongside the WorldTour ranking, it offers the only chance of gauging the trade teams against each other.

 

Team time trials are no unique event as many stage races have a collective race against the clock. However, the World Championships TTT is a different beast to what the riders are used to. In times gone by, team time trials were often held over long distances of more than 60km but nowadays organizers prefer to keep them much shorter to avoid too big time differences that may eliminate many potential winners. Grand tour team time trials are usually no longer than 30km and in smaller stage races, they are even shorter.

 

As opposed to this, the World Championships are held on much longer courses. In 2012, the winner was found on a 53.2km course in Limburg and the 57.2km route in 2013 was even longer. At 57.1km, last year’s course had the same distance but this year it has been reduced significantly to make it more comparable to the challenges that the riders face during the rest of the season. At the same time, the rosters are considerably smaller than in stage races where 8- or 9-rider teams are usually the standard. In the battle for the global honour, the teams can only select 6 riders, with the time of the 4th rider being the one that counts. This makes cohesion and careful race planning even more important as the teams try to maximize their gains from each rider's strength. At the same time, the fact that it is a stand-alone event means that most of the riders are TT specialists so there is no reason to take care of tiny climbers who can’t make much of a contribution.

 

In its first two years, the event was dominated by Omega Pharma-Quick Step. In 2012, they became the first world champions in a thrilling battle with BMC. Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra, Kristof Vandewalle and Peter Velits waited nervously in the hot seat while BMC was about to produce a ride that could potentially better their performance. However, Tejay van Garderen rode too fast up the Cauburg towards the end of the race and as a result, the team had to slow down to wait for Taylor Phinney. In the end, they missed 3.23 seconds and had to settle for 2nd while Orica-GreenEDGE showed their strength in the discipline by finishing 3rd on a course that didn't do them many favours.

 

In 2013 Omega Pharma-Quick Step repeated the performance after one of the most thrilling battles in the team time trial history. This time they were up against archrivals Orica-GreenEDGE who had beaten them by less than a second a few months earlier in the Tour de France TTT. Despite the long distance, the race was again decided by fractions of a second and this time the outcome was the reverse. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step team of Chavanel, Martin, Terpstra, Vandewalle, Velits and Michal Kwiatkowski had been clearly the fastest at the first two time checks but at the third and final one, they suddenly trailed the Australians by a second. In the end, they finished the race strongly to defend their title with a winning margin of less than a second. A strong Sky team led by Chris Froome completed the podium, 22 seconds off the winning mark.

 

Last year the Omega Pharma-QuickStep dominance was broken when BMC turned out to be in a class of their own on the lumpy course in Ponferrada. Despite missing Taylor Phinney’s firepower, the combination of Tejay van Garderen, Peter Velits, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato, Rohan Dennis and neo-pro Silvan Dillier turned out to be a winning one and the outcome was never really in doubt. In the end, they had put no less than 32 seconds into Orica-GreenEDGE who again had to settle for silver and it was the battle for the minor places that turned out to be exciting. Defending champions Omega Pharma-Quick Step were slightly hampered by a change in weather conditions and had to settle for third another four seconds adrift while an in-form Bradley Wiggins led a small Sky team that had been down to four riders very early, across the line in fourth just two seconds off the podium. All four teams who have filled the podium in every edition of the race will be back in 2015 as they are ready to continue their big battle for global supremacy.

 

The course

The 2012 course was highly unusual for team time trials which are often held on rather flat, non-technical courses suited to powerful specialists. The organizers decided to send the riders up many of the climbs that characterize the Limburg province and like the road races and the individual time trials, the top of the famous Cauberg was located just 1km from the finish line.

 

In 2013, the road races were very hard and the men’s race ended up being a highly selective affairs. However, the courses for the time trials were completely different as they were held on almost completely flat road, marked by long straights and virtually no climbing. Last year’s course for the team time trial was more of the same as the riders mostly avoided the hills around Ponferrada. Instead of using the hilly terrain from the road race, the riders only had to tackle a single climb in the end, making it another day for the specialists.

 

This year’s course follows the tradition of being one for the specialists as it is again mainly made up of long, straight roads. During the 38.8km, the riders will only tackle 240m of climbing and like last year the main challenge is a difficult climb in the end. What marks this course out from the previous ones is the distance. While the first three TTTs were all held on long courses that made them similar to grand tour time trials in the 90s, this year’s much shorter race will make it more comparable to the tests that the riders face during the year.

 

For the second time in the history of this new event, the race will both start and finish in the host city. From the start on the northern outskirts, the riders will travel south towards the city centre along flat, open, scenic roads that pass through the historic part of the city and there are no major technical challenges. After around 10km of racing, they turn to the southeast to pass through the centre and close by the finish area. Here there will be a few 90-degree turns and a short descent.

 

As they reach the shores of the river, they continue past the finish area to take a small trip through the hillier terrain south of the city. After around 15km of racing, there is a small climb and there is another small ascent around the 23km mark. Otherwise the roads are fast, straight and flat and without any major technical challenges.

 

At the southernmost point, the riders will turn around to head back to the city centre, partly along the same roads. At the 33km mark, they will take a descent back to the shores of the river and then there are a few flat kilometres before it is time for the difficult finale. With 1km to go, the riders will take a sharp right-hand turn to hit the 300m climb of Governor Street. At the top it is a sharp left-hand turn onto the 680m false flat finishing straight

 

The time trial specialists couldn't have asked for a better course and this is a race that will be decided by power and speed more than technical prowess and climbing skills. Of course it will be important to save some energy for the final climb where a difference can be made but for most of the time the riders will be travelling along mainly flat roads where power is the key.

 

In the past the team time trial was also a chance to preview the course for the individual time trial as the courses for the two races were virtually identical. Last year that trend was less evident as the two courses were only partly covering the same roads. This year there is very little information to gain for the ITT as only the very finale is identical.

 

 

The weather

At the moment, it seems like we could get a pretty wet World Championships but at least the conditions should be great for the opening race. Sunday is forecasted to be a sunny day with a maximum temperature of 28 degrees.

 

There will only be a light wind from a northerly direction and it should be pretty constant for the duration of the race. This means that the riders will mainly have a tailwind in the first two-thirds before they turn into a headwind as they head back to the centre of Richmond.

 

The favourites

For the fourth year in a row, the team time trial has been taken very seriously by the specialist teams and most of the usual top performers in the stage race TTTs have lined up very powerful rosters that have prepared specifically for the event. For some riders and teams, this is their main goal at the championships and hours of meticulous preparation have gone into giving the teams the best shot at the title. The UCI could hardly have wished a better start list as most of the greatest time trial specialists are prepared to lead their teams in Sunday's collective race.

 

With small 6-rider rosters, the importance of every single rider increases and it's almost impossible to win the event with a weak link. A win requires every rider to be able to make a solid contribution. At the same time, the individual rider may play a bigger role as there are fewer riders to share the workload. This means that the main powerhouses will be able to make a bigger difference. Compared to recent years, the distance is significantly shorter though and this should be a disadvantage for the diesel engines which have been able to really decide the races in recent year. Now it will be more about speed than endurance.

 

For the third year in a row, the course is very flat with very few technical challenges and only one small climb in the finale. This means that it’s a race for the specialists who can push a big gear along the long, straight roads. In Limburg, climbing skills were important but here it is almost all about speed. This is reflected in the line-ups as most teams have designed very powerful rosters for the event. However, the late ascent will still be a stiff challenge as it provides cohesiveness and careful gauging of the pace. It will be very important not to go faster than the fourth rider – just recall how BMC lost the 2012 race because Tejay van Garderen forgot to look back when he hammered up the Cauberg.

 

Last year the race was billed as a battle between Orica-GreenEDGE and Omega Pharma-Quick Step. However, both favourites were surprised by a very strong BMC team that turned out to be in a class of its own. The two pre-race favourites were as close to each other as expected but they were far off the pace of the Americans.

 

Generally, team time trials have been dominated by Orica-GreenEDGE, Etixx-QuickStep, BMC, Sky and Movistar, with Astana occasionally being in the mix as well. Tinkoff-Saxo are gradually developing into some of the specialists too while the rest of the teams usually have to settle for a minor placing. Team time trialling is a very unique discipline that requires careful preparation and you won’t get anywhere if you don’t take things very seriously. This has definitely been done by all the favourite teams for whom this race is one of the season highlights and lots of consideration has gone into carefully selecting the rosters.

 

When it comes to picking the favourite, much can be learned from the previous team time trials of the season but it is important to remember the vast differences between this event and the stage race TTTs. It is dangerous to place too much emphasis on past races and instead a close look at the roster selections, last year’s Worlds and the preparation will provide more useful information.

 

This year we expect the race to come down to a battle between BMC, Etixx-QuickStep and Orica-GreenEDGE, with Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo looming as very strong outsiders but it is hard not to put defending champions BMC on top of our list of favourites. Last year they took the win with the biggest margin in the history of the event and they have continued their strong performances by winning three of the four WorldTour TTTs in the 2015 season.

 

The key to their success has mostly been Rohan Dennis. The Australian has not only developed into one of the very best individual time triallists – he is probably the best TTT rider in the world. The Australian has the speed, power and endurance to make a huge difference in every TTT and on every course. In both the Dauphiné and the Tour, his teammates were overwhelmed by his strength and there is no reason that he will be any slower in this race. In fact, the Worlds TTT and ITT are his big goals for the second half of the year and he has prepared specifically for both. Those who witnessed him dominate the USA Pro Challenge in both the road stages and time trial, must be scared by the fact that he is likely to have become even stronger.

 

BMC have not announced their roster yet but Dennis is part of a 9-rider long list that also includes Manuel Quinziato, Daniel Oss, Silvan Dillier, Peter Velits, Taylor Phinney, Stefan Küng, Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet. Almost any combination of those riders is frightening and the team is waiting until the last minute to make the final decision.

 

Quinziato, Oss, Dillier and Velits were all part of last year’s winning team and have all been part of TTT success this year. From the 2014 gold team, only Tejay van Garderen is missing which is definitely a huge setback. However, for this flat course riders like Küng and Phinney should be even stronger. The latter would usually be almost on par with Dennis in this kind of effort but he is still coming back from his horrific injury. He has made remarkable progress but he is still not the Phinney he once was. As opposed to this, Küng was no less than impressive in the Tour of Britain despite suffering a bad injury in the Giro and he will be a huge asset in this discipline. If one adds the in-form Van Avermaet and Gilbert who are both solid time triallists, it is hard not to be impressed by the mount of talent.

 

With Velits still not being in his best condition after his injury, we expect the Slovakian to be left off the roster alongside one or both of Van Avermaet and Gilbert. That leaves a homogeneous team with a big engine in Dennis who – unlike Tony Martin – should even benefit from the shorter distance. This combination is a very strong one with lots of experience and this turns the Americans into the team to beat.

 

UPDATE: As expected, BMC have announced that the final roster is made up of Phinney, Dennis, Oss, Quinziato, Küng and Dillier.

 

The biggest rivals are likely to be Etixx-QuickStep. The Belgian team took close wins in the first two editions of the race and it definitely hurt for them to lose the title in Ponferrada. This year they have done their utmost to prepare for another assault at the prestigious race as they desperately want to return to the top step of the podium. The team have been gathered for some tests on the Ursel airfield in Belgium to do some important tests and arrived in Richmond very early to learn all the details about the course. The preparations have been very meticulous and there is no doubt that they are taking this race extremely seriously.

 

Compared to last year’s bronze-medal winning team, Rigoberto Uran and Yves Lampaert have replaced Pieter Serry and Julien Vermote while the rest of the roster is made up of Tony Martin, Michal Kwiatkowski, Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra who have all been part of winning teams in the past. On paper, this should be a considerable reinforcement as both Uran and Lampaert are better time triallists than Serry and Vermote but the team is still not nearly as strong as in 2013 when Kristof Vandewalle, Sylvain Chavanel and Peter Velits teamed up with Martin, Terpstra and Kwiatkowski to form a frightening combination.

 

Compared to the BMC team, the team is less homogeneous. It is no secret that Martin always plays a huge role in every team time trial he does and he will again be expected to carry the main workload. However, the shorter distance is a clear disadvantage for the German whose diesel engine excels in the really long races. Furthermore, his condition is uncertain. He crashed out of the Tour and even though he had a successful return by winning the Tour du Poitou-Charentes less than a week after his comeback in the Vattenfall Cyclassics, his preparation has been far from perfect. He was beaten into third in the Poitou-Charentes TT and he was dropped surprisingly early in the Canadian WorldTour races without having been able to play his usual visible role in the front end of the peloton. To make things worse, he missed the GP Fourmies due to stomach problems.

 

Kwiatkowski is the second best time triallist in the team and he has the speed to do well, even on this flat course. He is finally showing signs of his best condition after a very poor summer campaign but he still doesn’t seem to be at his 2014 level. Terpstra is a solid, albeit unspectacular, time triallist and even though he was clearly in good form in the Vuelta, the shorter distance will be a disadvantage for him. Boonen is always a solid team player in team time trials but he is not the rider who’s going to win the race for Etixx-QuickStep.

 

If this had been 2014, Uran would have been an excellent pick for the team but this year his time trialling has not been at the same level. On the other hand, he finally showed signs of his best form by winning the Grand Prix Quebec, only to abandon in Montreal two days later. It is still too hard to gauge his condition and it remains to be seen whether he can contribute to another big win before he leaves the team. Finally, Lampaert is good time triallist but he doesn’t have much experience in team time trialling after several years at Topsport Vlaanderen that have not had much experience in this discipline.

 

Nonetheless, it is still a formidable roster and most will envy the Belgians this amount of time trialling firepower. Much will depend on Martin’s shape though. His preparation has not been optimal but last year he was clearly fatigued at this point of the season. If he has timed things better, another win is definitely within reach for the Belgian team that have not left any stone unturned in their quest to return to the top step.

 

A third place and two consecutive second places are the outcomes of the first three time trials for Orica-GreenEDGE who have quickly built a reputation as the perennial favourites for most TTTs. They have won time trials in both the Giro and the Tour and it definitely hurts for them never to have come out on top in the battle for the global honour.

 

What characterizes Orica-GreenEDGE is their great homogeneity. The roster is loaded with time trialling talent but none of them are winning many individual tests at the international level. They don’t have a Tony Martin or Rohan Dennis but they have a very strong all-round team with no really weak links. Furthermore, they have huge experience in the discipline and have done lots of TTTs together. For the likes of Svein Tuft, Michael Hepburn and Luke Durbridge, much of the season seems to be based on team time trialling unlike Martin and Dennis who are proven winners in lots of other races, both time trials and road races.

 

Orica-GreenEDGE are taking this event extremely seriously. As they have done for a couple of years, they have gathered their core team for a training camp in August. Almost as soon as the Tour de France finished, it was all about the TTT for a big part of the team which has spent more than a month mostly together. After the training camp, the six riders all rode together at the Tour of Alberta before all but Michael Matthews travelled to the USA to finalize their preparations.

 

Durbridge, Tuft, Hepburn and Matthews will be joined by Sam Bewley and Jens Mouris to form a very powerful team of rouleurs. Compared to last year, Matthews and Bewley have been brought in as replacements for Damien Howson who did the Vuelta, and Brett Lancaster. On paper, that may make the team slightly weaker but the differences should be minor.

 

This year Orica-GreenEDGE have continued their success in team time trialling. They won the Giro TTT, were second in Romandie and second in the Vuelta. The Tour TTT ended as a disaster as they had lost almost half of their team and just rolled around the course in last place. Finally, they were slightly off the pace in the Dauphiné where they didn’t have their greatest specialists.

 

Nonetheless, it is hard not to be left with the impression that they are not as strong as 12 months ago. Tuft has always been the key rider in the team but it seems that father age is starting to catch up with the strong Canadian. A very important indication came at the Tour of Alberta where they were surprisingly beaten by Trek in a team time trial with a largely identical team. That stage was held on normal road bikes and is not fully comparable to the Richmond test but the result must still have been slightly worrying.

 

On the other hand, the flat course really suits their strong rouleurs. The shorter distance should be a clear advantage for a team that is made up of riders with lots of track experience. Generally, they have done their best TTTs on the very fast courses and this one seems to be of the right type for them. That could turn the table of the always homogeneous Orica-GreenEDGE team but this year we see them as being slightly below the level of BMC and Etixx-QuickStep.

 

Movistar has a reputation as a climbing team but they also belong to the team time trial specialists. It is no secret that the discipline is very dear to manager Eusebio Unzue’s heart and he has always put huge emphasis on it. It is no coincidence that the team has been able to attract foreign specialists like Adriano Malori and Alex Dowsett who have found the right surroundings to continue the development.

 

The Spaniards are always up there in the team time trials and have a couple of wins on their palmares. Mostly they have come in the Vuelta where they have benefited of technical, hilly courses to really make use of their versatility. Hence, it is no surprise that they were on the podium in both the Dauphiné and Tour TTTs that both had very hilly courses.

 

In the flatter team time trials, they have generally had a harder time which is evidenced by their sixth place in Ponferrada. However, they have gradually gathered the right amount of firepower to also be contenders in the high-speed TTTs and there is no reason that a team with the likes of Adriano Malori and Alex Dowsett can’t win a race like this.

 

The full six-rider roster will be chosen from a long-list that includes Dowsett, Malori, Jonathan Castroviejo, Winner Anacona, Ion Izagirre, Andrey Amador and Jasha Sütterlin. Compared to last year, Castroviejo and Anacona have replaced Imanol Erviti. The Spanish champion should have a guaranteed spot on the roster and this is a significant reinforcement as he has been time trialling better than ever in 2015.

 

Malori showed great condition by winning the Poitou-Charentes TT – where he beat Martin – and with Castroviejo a close second, the form is definitely there for two of the key riders. Dowsett was fourth in that stage but has not been satisfied with his form, feeling that he has been playing catch-up since he abandoned the Tour due to illness. Furthermore, Castroviejo is worried by a knee injury after he crashed in the GP Quebec.

 

If the rest of the team had had the caliber of the three main riders, Movistar would have been an obvious favourite but it is doubtful whether they have the all-round strength to win. Ion Izagirre is a great time triallist but he prefers much hillier courses and lacks the speed to really shine in this terrain. Andrey Amador seems to have lost his time trialling edge with his improved climbing while Jasha Sütterlin has never confirmed his potential at the pro level. Anacona is no time triallist and is the obvious reserve choice. If the team is forced to use the climber, it will be very hard for a six-man Movistar team to win on this course.

 

On the other hand, the amount of firepower from Malori, Dowsett and Castroviejo cannot be underestimated. They have all be preparing specifically for the Worlds time trials and that should bring them far. On this type of course, it may not be enough to win already in 2015 but we wouldn’t be the slightest surprised if Movistar end the dominance of BMC, Etixx-QuickStep, Sky and Orica-GreenEDGE by winning their first medal in the event.

 

When the team was known as CSC, Tinkoff-Saxo were a perennial contender in the team time trials which have always been dear to former manager Bjarne Riis’ heart. However, as most of the stars left the team, they disappeared from the elite and are now gradually rebuilding a strong TTT squad. This year they have had some remarkable results as they were second in both the Giro and the Vuelta and fourth in the Tour and they are getting closer to that elusive first win.

 

In Richmond, they line up most of their A team as only Alberto Contador and Daniele Bennati. The key rider is an in-form Maciej Bodnar who missed a big part of the year due to a broken collarbone but is back in excellent condition with a second place in the Vuelta ITT. Alongside Peter Sagan, he was part of the Cannondale/Liquigas team that often was among the best in the grand tour TTTs and both are excellent team time trial riders.

 

The rest of the team is made up of specialists Manuele Boaro and Michael Rogers who unfortunately are not the time triallists they once were, and the Danish pair of Michael Valgren and Christopher Juul. Rogers has had a heavy racing program and is no longer in his best condition while Juul also seems to be fatigued. Valgren showed signs of improvement in Canada while Boaro has been very active the entire autumn.

 

Overall the team is very homogeneous with no really weak links and most of them have lots of team time trialling experience. They probably miss the big engine to get a medal in this high-level field but they definitely have a chance to match or improve last year’s fifth place.

 

Interestingly, IAM have never participated in a Worlds TTT before but they have a made a rapid improvement in the special discipline. They have done nothing to hide their big focus on the event and have done a lot of careful preparation. Already last year they had a big focus on the race but skipped their participation at the last minute as they didn’t feel competitive. However, they have proved their strength by taking sixth in the Tour behind the five big GC teams.

 

For this race, they will be missing Sylvain Chavanel who is recovering after a tough year with three grand tours, but they can still count on two of their biggest engines, Matthias Brändle and Stef Clement. The former has not raced a lot since La Grande Boucle and hasn’t shown his best condition. However, he is likely to have carefully prepared for the Worlds TT and so should be fully ready for this event. Clement was not flying in the Tour of Britain but he is always reliable and consistent.

 

The in-form time triallist on the roster is Jerome Coppel. The French TT champion usually needs a hilly course to excel but was an excellent fifth on the flat route in the Vuelta. He has improved his time trialling a lot and will be a key asset. If you add the firepower of Martin Elmiger, Reto Hollenstein and Aleksejs Saramotins who are all capable of top 10 finishes in flat time trials, you have a very homogenous team with no really weak links. A hillier course would probably have been better but they have the speed to do well here to. The team has announced a 7-rider long-list that is completed by Jarlinson Pantano. Unless something happens to one of the specialists, we expect the Colombian climber to be left off the final team which definitely has the potential to finish this race in the top 10.

 

UPDATE: IAM have announced a final selection without Elimger who has stayed in Switzerland to be with his wife for the birth of his child.

 

On paper, Trek often have one of the best TTT teams but for some reason they always seem to disappoint. Last year they looked like potential winners but could only manage seventh. This year they will even have to do without three of their biggest engines Fabian Cancellara, Kristof Vandewalle and Bob Jungels (the latter was also absent in 2014).

 

However, that doesn’t change the fact that they have a strong team of in-form riders. In fact, they have just delivered one of the biggest TTT surprises in recent years by beating major favourites Orica-GreenEDGE in the Tour of Alberta TTT. They haven’t announced their team yet but Jesse Sergent, Hayden Rouston, Marco Coledan and Matthew Busche were all part of the winning performance and on the 8-rider long list. They are joined by the always reliable Markel Irizar and Riccardo Zoidl who come straight from the Vuelta, Stijn Devolder and Fabio Felline. Those four riders are all potential top 10 finishers in individual time trials but would all prefer hillier courses. Most notably Felline has improved massively in this discipline and been one of the most consistent time triallists all year.

 

The big specialist in the team is Sergent who is likely to spearhead a team without any weak links. The absence of Cancellara will be dearly missed though and there is a vast difference between the level in Alberta and in Richmond. They are very unlikely to medal but a cohesive ride could see them make it intp the top 5.

 

Sky has always been one of the real TTT specialists and was a fine fourth last year. However, in Ponferrada they relied heavily on an incredibly strong Bradley Wiggins who is no longer with them. Furthermore, they are missing big specialists like Geraint Thomas, Richie Porte and Chris Froom and it is a significantly weaker Sky team that goes into this year’s race.

 

The key rider is Vasil Kiryienka who is always flying at this time of the year. Again he finished the Vuelta strongly and he will be of crucial importance for the Brits. However, the rest of the team is made up of strong guys who are not really specialists. Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Salvatore Puccio, Elia Viviani and Danny Pate all have lots of firepower on the flats but none of them feature at the top end of ITT results.

 

However, there is a vast difference between ITTs and TTTs and especially a rider like Viviani is undoubtedly better suited to this discipline. Overall the team is pretty homogeneous and suited to the flat course so a good ride is definitely not impossible. Nonetheless, it will be a massive surprise if the Brits manage to repeat last year’s medal-winning performance.

 

Astana have won team time trials in the past and on paper they should have a good team for this race too. They are not among the biggest specialists though and with a very versatile roster, they would definitely have preferred a lumpier course.

 

The Kazakhs have not announced their team yet (which they will probably only do very late) so we have to base our predictions on their 8-rider long list. It features strong time triallists like Lars Boom, Tanel Kangert, Luis Leon Sanchez, Rein Taaramae, Andriy Grivko, and Alexey Lutsenko alongside strong riders Jakob Fuglsang and Daniil Fominykh.

 

Taaramae and Kangert are both very good time triallists but they need some climbs to really excel. Sanchez has done well on this kind of course but much will depend on his recovery from the Vuelta as he did a very poor time trial in the final week. Boom is not the time triallist he once was and his condition is questionable as he hasn’t shown much form recently. In addition to Sanchez and Kangert, the in-form rider is Grivko who is always very strong in this discipline and has been riding well recently as has Lutsenko.

 

Regardless of the final selection, there is no doubt that Astana will have a homogeneous team with lots of firepower. However, it is no coincidence that their best result at Worlds is sixth in 2013. A top 10 is definitely within their reach but a medal is very unlikely.

 

LottoNL-Jumbo has always been one of the strongest teams on the flats but for some reason they have rarely been able to translate it into TTT success. They always seem to finish between 6th and 10th. At Worlds, they have mostly disappointed as they have not been in the top 10 since 2012.

 

However, they have worked a lot on their time trialling in 2015 and the results have been evident. They had an outstanding opening Tour stage in Utrecht where Jos van Emden, Robert Gesink and Wilco Kelderman all had excellent rides. Van Emden and Kelderman went on to make it a 1-2 in the Eneco Tour TT so their hard efforts are paying off.

 

Van Emden and Kelderman will be the main powerhouses in a strong team that has no really weak links. Kelderman is clearly in excellent condition as is Robert Gesink but both would have preferred a hillier course to capitalize maximally on their form. The team is completed by strong riders Maarten Tjallingii, Tom Leezer and Sep Vanmarcke who are no specialists but all good on the flats. Importantly, Vanmarcke seems to have improved his time trialling a lot and the in-form Belgian should be a big asset on this course. LottoNL-Jumbo are not going to become world champions but they have the firepower to create a small surprise.

 

Giant-Alpecin were once known as the team that always finished last in the grand tour TTTs but that has definitely changed. Nowadays, they have turned into one of the stronger teams which is actually no surprise. With lots of lead-out riders joining forces with a few TT specialists, they should be able to do well in the flat TTTs. Last year they made it into the top 10 for the first time and this year they should again be able to do well.

 

Much will depend on Tom Dumoulin. The Dutchman is THE engine in the team but he has had a very hard Vuelta and mostly has his eyes on the ITT. If he is already prepared to go 100%, the team should do well as it can also count on strong time triallists like Tobias Ludvigsson and Chad Haga in addition to sprinters Nikias Arndt and Ramon Sinkeldam who both have the speed to do well here. The roster is completed by Georg Preidler who has done decent time trials in the past but would have preferred a more undulating course.

 

On paper there are stronger teams than Giant-Alpecin but with Dumoulin on the team they are capable of a surprise. The team has the right homogeneity to do well so it will mostly come down to Dumoulin’s recovery and motivation.

 

***** BMC

**** Etixx-Quick Step, Orica-GreenEDGE

*** Movistar, Tinkoff-Saxo, IAM

** Trek, Sky, Astana

* LottoNL-Jumbo, Giant-Alpecin