Tejay van Garderen, Greg Van Avermaet and Cadel Evans will finish their preparation for the world championships by leading the BMC team in the two Canadian WorldTour races in Quebec and Montreal. Lampre-Merida has selected a strong squad that is built around recent GP Ouest France-Plouay winner Filippo Pozzato.

Most of the riders that aren't racing the Vuelta finish their preparation for the world championships in Friday's GP de Quebec and Sunday's GP de Montreal in Canada. Offering hilly circuit races, both events are perfect warm-up events for the battle for the rainbow jersey.

BMC will line-up in Canada on the back of a solid showing in the Tour of Alberta where Silvan Dillier and Cadel Evans both won stages while Brent Bookwalter finished 2nd overall. Evans is one of several riders that will finish his worlds preparation in Canada and said prior to the Alberta race that he planned to be competitive in the weekend races.

From the Alberta team, he will be joined by Bookwalter, Steve Morabito, Amael Moinard and Marcus Burghardt. Moinard and Morabito are both climbers that are well-suited to the tough courses in Canada while Bookwalter's Alberta result is testament to his good condition.

They will be joined by in-form Daniel Oss, Greg Van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen. Van Avermaet recently won a stage in the Tour of Utah and finished runner-up several times and almost won the GP Ouest France-Plouay by launching a gutsy attack in the finale. Van Garderen is arriving in Canada on the back of an overall win in the USA Pro Challenge and claims to be in good condition for the end of the season.

"I definitely feel motivated for the later part of the season," he said. "Sometimes it's hard to get motivated this late in the year so you just ride out the rest of the season. But this year, I've been taking it very seriously and staying on track."

Sports director Jackson Stewart is confident in his team.

"We have a lot of guys going really well now," he said. "That means more opportunities for any situation that the race throws our way. It's nice to know that you have so many guys that can win out of the right situation."

Van Avermaet will have to go up against the rider that beat him in Plouay as Lampre-Merida has selected a roster that is spearheaded by Filippo Pozzato. In addition to his big win in France, he also has a recent victory in the Coppa Agostoni and hopes to continue that good run of form in Canada as he hopes to gain selection for the Italian world championships squad.

He will be joined by Damiano Cunego, Daniele Pietropolli, recent Tre Valli Varesine winner Kristijan Durasek who is in excellent condition, and young Jan Polanc who will make his WorldTour debut. Those four riders all excel in hilly terrain and will be ready to take over the reins, should the courses be too tough for Pozzato. Time triallist Adriano Malori and sprinters Davide Cimolai and Elia Favilli complete the roster:

"Pozzato has demonstrated in his lat races that he is in good condition and we will try to take advantage of this to be competitive in Canada," sports director Fabrizio Bontempi said. "However, the team is full of resources as the courses may be suited to Cunego and Pietropolli who have been strong in the recent editions of the Canadian races. I don't forget the recent good performances by  Cimolai, Durasek and Polanc who could play a role as an outsider, and the importance of in-form riders like Malori and Favilli."

The race in Quebec takes place on Friday while the Montreal event is held two days later. You can follow both events on CyclingQuotes.com/live.