The cycling world is fully focused on the World Championships and this week is loaded with one-day races that give the riders a final chance to finalize their preparations or convince the national coaches that they deserve a spot on the roster. Wednesday and Saturday offer hard races in Belgium where you can see how some of the contenders are going so close to the battle for the rainbow jersey. On both days, you can follow the races on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The week after the Vuelta always offers a series of on-day races that tradionally play a key role in the preparations for Worlds. On Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, there will be races in Belgium, Italyy offers one-day races on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and on Sunday the GP d’Isbergues takes place in France.

This year the role as Worlds preparation is less evident as most of the big names have already crossed the Atlantic. Hence, these races don’t have the same strong fields as usual but a big Worlds favourite like Nacer Bouhanni will still be riding in Wednesday’s GP de Wallonie. At the same time, the races are important for riders like Thibaut Pinot and Jan Bakelants who will skip the race in Richmond to focus on Il Lombardia.

On Wednesday it is time for the GP Wallonie which has traditionally played an important role as a preparation race for the Worlds. The race takes place in Wallonia and is loaded with short, steep climbs. It all comes to an exciting conclusion on the famous climb to the citadel in Namur and so it is no surprise that the race is dominated by Ardennes specialists. That is reflected in last year’s podium which was made up of Greg Van Avermaet, Tony Gallopin and Jan Bakelants and the latter will again be one of the favourites after his fourth place in Montreal. Pinot will hope to improve on last year’s 9th place, and you can never rule out a good result from Bouhanni on a short climb like this one. The list of favourites includes Jelle Vanendert, Bjorn Leukemans, Gianni Meersman, Pieter Serry, Rudy Molard, Florian Vachon, Damiano Caruso, Petr Vakoc, Pieter Serry, Julien Bernard and Arthur Vichot.

On Saturday it is time for Primus Classic Impanis – Van Petegem. The race is not as hilly as the one in Wallonia but still includes several hard climbs. That is reflected in the fact that last year’s race was won by an in-form Van Avermaet but it has also been decide in a reduced bunch sprint in the past. That is undoubtedly what Marcel Kittel is hoping for in a race that also includes riders like Caruso, Jempy Drucker, Alessandro De Marchi, Meersman, Jens Debusschere, Warren Barguil, Moreno Hofland, Tom Van Asbroeck, Danny Van Poppel, Francesco Chicchi, Yauheni Hutarovich, Dan McLay, Raymond Kreder, Leukemans and Edward Theuns.

On Wednesday at 14.30 CEST you can follow the GP de Wallonie here. On Saturday at 15.00 CEST you can follow the Primus Classic Impanis here.