Simon Gerrans lined up at the start of last year's World Championships road race held in Ponferrada as one of the biggest favourites, right after winning both Canadian one-day races in an impressive style. Even though parcours in Richmond suits the witty Australian just as much, his disposition ahead of the road race remains a mystery after he'd suffered an unbearable amount of bad luck in the first part of the season.

It seems perfectly fair to call Gerrans the most unlucky rider of the opening months of 2015 season, as the Orica-GreenEDGE captain was crashing out half of the races he participated in. The 35-year old Australian kicked-off his season late due to a fracture he suffered during the winter-break, but his streak of misfortune continued forcing him to abandon such events like Strade Bianche, Liege-Bastogne-Liege or Tour de France.

Even though he survived the Vuelta, in such circumstanced his preparations for the World Championships couldn't be perfect and Matt White admits that his form for the road race event remains an unknown.

"He goes into the Worlds as a bit of an unknown really," Matt White, his trade team manager at Orica GreenEdge told Cyclingnews.

"He got through the Vuelta but he had a few health problems at the end. Where he is at when it comes to the Worlds is a bit of an unknown. I'm not part of the national team's preparation and plans but he can still be a factor.