French coach Bernard Bourreau has ridden the circuit of the World Championships and predicts a hard race to be on the cards.

"That long descent between the two climbs is going to stretch out the peloton and that's going to make the race hard. It's not so much the climbs or the difficulty of the climbs that will make the selection as the speed of the race itself," Bourreau told Cyclingnews.

This has given him confidence as he has selected men who ca do well in hard races, such as Romain Bardet, Sylvain Chavanel and Tony Gallopin.

"We've put together a complete team and one that's on form. That's the first criterion for selection," Bourreau said. "We'll see what the circumstances of the race are. I think it's going to be difficult to create a strategy beforehand, because so much will depend on the how the race unfolds and on simply following the attacks. You need to have a lot of options in your team but there are no certainties on this circuit."

And unlike some of their rivals, France has a proven sprinter who has proven recently he can climb and may be a feature at the end of the race in Nacer Bouhanni.however, after falling out with his FDJ team, Bouhanni has raced very little recently.

"It was the Vuelta that convinced me to bring a sprinter because before that I wasn't too sure about it. Initially I wasn't certain that I had a sprinter who could get over such difficult climbs but it was the Vuelta that persuaded me," he said. "Nacer's proved that he's on form, so he's an option here, for sure. If it finishes in a sprint and he's up there, we'll have a card to play."

France are in a drought just now, something that has been well documented as Berbard Hinault in 1985 was their last Tour de France winner, but they also lack a World Champion since Laurent Brochard in 1997. Their last medal also came back in Madrid 2005, Anthony Geslin third on the day. France will look to end that drought on Sunday and certainly have the men on form to do so.

"We all know who the main contenders on Sunday are – guys like Valverde, Cancellara and Sagan – but the winner could be another," Bourreau said. "There are maybe 50 or 60 very good riders here who could be world champion. It's not always reserved for the super favourites of the moment."