Seven Tinkoff riders will represent their respective nations in Doha next week at the UCI World Road Race Championships, with the UCI WorldTour number one ranked rider, and reigning world and European champion Peter Sagan looking to do the double after taking a spectacular win last year in Richmond, USA. The race is held in the Qatari desert, and will be susceptible to high winds and searing heats, potentially making the race very different to what is usually witnessed at the world championships.

The week kicks off with the individual time trial on Wednesday, where the men will go head-to-head against the clock over a fast, flat 40km parcours, with some technical sections to negotiate both at the start and finish. Maciej Bodnar will be the team’s only representative in the TT, and the reigning Polish time trial champion will be looking to improve on his eighth place finish last year.

Erik Baška will be in action at the men's U23 road race on Thursday, 13th October, looking to add to his European Championship title from 2015. The 166km race is based around the The Pearl Qatar, taking in ten laps of the twisty circuit.

The elite men's road race then takes place on Sunday, with all of the various nations going up against one another over 257.5km of racing starting in the centre of Doha before finishing in the Pearl Qatar, by the sea.

The race takes in a 151km point-to-point section before hitting the finishing circuits, 15.2km to be covered seven times. With predicted wind speeds of over 30km/h the race could be heavily influenced by crosswinds, threatening to break the peloton into echelons, but this depends on how the various teams look to tackle the race.

On paper, the race suits a sprinters’ showdown, but if the wind picks up, anything could happen.

Tinkoff riders in action in Doha are:

Great Britain

Adam Blythe

Italy
Daniele Bennati

Poland
Maciej Bodnar (both TT and RR)

Slovakia
Peter Sagan
Michael Kolar
Juraj Sagan
Erik Baška (U23 road race)