Who's gonna win the worlds?

The first time in my living memory that GB has ben allowed a full nine man team....I can remember watching the brave Mark Lovatt dropping off the back only a few years ago, how things have changed....

Has GB got a chance? if so who? or your predictions from other countries...

All I am saying is that Hammond will likely put in a good ride.

the worlds? is it a fixie skidder competition?
a winner? probably some cat from L.A. they really are crazy on the west coast

Valverde; for a couple of months anyway until he's finally banned and he has to give the jersey back and cycling has made itself look even more stupid than usual.
Valverde; for a whole year even though he's had a DNA test that proves he's a lying cheating bastard but for some reason gets away with only being banned in Italy and nowhere else and cycling makes itself look as stupid as any sport can.

Failing that, er, the TT will be a battle for second, probably. I'd like to see Freire win the road race because he's a funny down to earth person and he was a champion at scalextric.

my son is named after Freire....

my son is named after Freire....

Top man!

What's with Oscar? That's 4 kids I know now called Oscar. Name of the decade.

I'm assuming you mean "Oscar"?

Cancellara for the double. Okay, pretty fookin unlikely but I'd like to see it.

there's a lot of Oscars around Dulwich, ver poshe. at least Winston named him after a cyclist!

quite a few Ottos too! wtf is that all about?

Otto was on the short list, we were after a name that sounded exactly the same in English as German and for boys it's only really Oskar...and of course he's one of my cycling heroes...

is Wiggins delaying salary negotiations with SKY until after thw worlds...in case he gets a medal?

The course is probably a bit too selective for Freire.

Cunego looks strong, and will likely be leading a very strong Italian team. Pip Gilbert is in good form, as is Edvald Boassen Hagen.

As Will says, it'll be a farce if Valverde wins, he should be serving a worldwide two year ban at the moment, not racing. It'll be interesting to see if the UCI grow some balls and prevent him starting the race (I doubt they will though).

+1 for Cunego

Cancellara for the TT, Wiggins 2nd, Millar 3rd

if andyp was in that nine man GB team i know where my money would be going ;)

On someone else? ;p

Millar 3rd?...unlikely I reckon

Very unlikely given that he isn't riding. The two GB riders are Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.

true! he's team captain for the road....I still prefer Hammond for this...

Men's U23 time trial results:

1 Jack Bobridge (AUS) 40.44.79
2 Nelson Oliveira (POR) 18.73
3 Patrick Gretsch (GER) 27.66
4 Marcel Kittel (GER) 34.46
5 Adriano Mallori (ITA) 36.48
6 Alfredo Balloni (ITA) 39.14
7 David Veilleux (CAN) 1.11.93

Cav's out,

The full British team for the road race is: Stephen Cummings (Barloworld), Russ Downing (Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta), Chris Froome (Barloworld), Roger Hammond (Cervélo Test Team), Dan Lloyd (Cervélo Test Team), David Millar (Garmin-Slipstream), Ian Stannard (ISD-Neri), Ben Swift (Team Katusha) and Geraint Thomas (Barloworld)

I want to burn some of my cash backing these no hopers?

anyone know if any online betting shops are willing to take my money?

unibet, but they seem to think Millar is the only Brit in the running...

That seems a fair assessment to me.

Managed to miss the Valverde stuff- I knew that he was banned in Italy hence could not take part in the tour.

Has anyone got a link to the back story?

http://search.cyclingnews.com/?q=valverde

More than you will ever want to know

I also recommend Cyclingfansanonymous for background on doping in cycling; a huge blog which has now closed but if you think cycling is dirty... wait till you read it.

I would love Russ Downing to grab this. I know he is an uncharismatic northerner but it would be really good to see him lift a really major event.

Much as I would also like to see uncharasmatic northerners doing well he has as much chance as you and i will have on friday.

a huge blog which has now closed but if you think cycling is dirty... wait till you read it.

A really useful resource but hasn't it closed because doping is now acknowleged to have occurred rather than being constantly denied and now something is being done about it. A Tour de France with no dopers caught was wonderful. Maybe, just maybe, cycling has become clean?