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 Thursday offer hard races in Belgium and Italy where it is possible to see how riders like Vincenzo Nibali, Romain Bardet, Greg Van Avermaet, Tony Gallopin, Jelle Vanendert, Frank Schleck, Enrico Gasparotto, Giovanni Visconti, Filippo Pozzato and Michael Albasini are going so close to the battle for the rainbow jersey. On both days, you can follow the races. on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

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 loased 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 start list contains riders like Greg Van Avermaet, Romain Bardet, Tony Gallopin, Jelle Vanendert, Thibaut Pinot, Rein Taaramae, Frank Schleck, Bjorn Leukemans and defending champion Jan Bakelants. Last tear Bakelants, Thomas Voeckler and Mathias Frank escaped from a select group of favouirtes and in the sprint on the hard climb in Namur, the Belgian emerged as the strongest.

On Thursday it is time for the third race in the Trittico Lombardo race series. After the sprint festival Coppa Bernocchi and the harder Coppa Agostoni, Tre Valli Varesine brings it all to an end and it is the most prestigious race in the series. That is mostly due to the hard course which suits the climbers. The race mainly consists of 10 laps of a tough circuit in Varese and one name will gain most of the attention. Vincenzo Nibali has done nothing to hide that this is his really big test for the Worlds but he faces tough competition from Giovanni Visconti, Damiano Caruso, Michael Albasini, Pieter Weening, Franco Pellizotti, Francesco Bongiorno, Edoardo Zardini, Mauro Finetto, Fabio Duarte, Davide Rebellin, Leopold König and Tiago Machado who are all expected to do well on this course. Last year's race developed into a battle between Francesco Bongiorno and Kristijan Durasek where the Slovenian emerged as the strongest.

Wednesday at 14.30 CEST and Thursday at 14.45 CEST you can follow the races here.