The defending champion, Rohan Dennis, is certainly confident going into the race. Despite the fact that he hasn’t raced since quitting the Tour de France in July.
“My expectations are to back up and win again. I think in the worst-case scenario, I’ll still be on the podium. If things go smoothly and I get the performance out of myself that I know I really can, there’s no reason why I can’t win.”
19-year-old Remco Evenepoel, the current European champion, won his title over 22.4 kilometres. Having never raced such a distance, he is not putting too much pressure on himself. However, he could very well win today and many, including Victor Campenaerts, took him as their pick.
“The goal? Top five. But if I don’t make it, I certainly won’t be disappointed. I am naturally a winner though, so I want to do as well as possible.”
All of the riders should tread carefully. The course is considered a treacherous one, and as Jan Bakelants explains: “It’s not a lap for time trialling, and, to be honest, I don’t think it’s a lap for a road race either. I think that it’s pretty dangerous. It’s really technical. That’s obviously very good for Mathieu van der Poel, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to love it. But it’s on the limit when it’s wet, and it’s probably going to be on the limit because we’re in England. The two times that you cross the bridge are very dangerous.”
We start at 13:20. Who do you think is going to win?
Elite men’s individual time trial start times
1. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) 13:18:30
2. Khaled Alkhalaifah (Kuweit) 13:20:00
3. Nazir Jaser (Syrian Arab Republic) 13:21:30
4. Edward Dunbarr (Ireland) 13:23:00
5. Dirk Coetzee (Namibia) 13:24:30
6. Chun Kai Feng (Chinese Taipei) 13:26:00
7. Kamil Gradek (Poland) 13:27:30
8. Luis Mas Bonet (Spain) 13:29:00
9. Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) 13:30:30
10. John Archibald (Great Britain) 13:32:00
11. Jan Barta (Czech Republic) 13:33:30
12. Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) 13:35:00
13. Pierre Latour (France) 13:36:30
14. Christopher Sysmonds (Ghana) 13:38:00
15. Saied Jafer Alali (Kuweit) 13:39:30
16. Gustavo Adolfo Mino Baez (Paraguay) 13:41:00
17. Runar Orn Aguastsson (Israel) 13:42:30
18. Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) 13:44:00
19. Eduard-Michael Grosu (Romania) 13:45:30
20. Hugo Houle (Canada) 13:47:00
21. Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) 13:48:30
22. Dylan van Baarle (Netherlands) 13:50:00
23. Nils Politt (Germany) 13:51:30
24. Alexander Evtushenko (Russian Federation) 13:53:00
25. Yves Lampaert (Belgium) 13:54:30
26. Ahmad Badreddin Wais (Syrian Arab Republic) 13:56:00
27. Jan Andrej Cully (Slovakia) 13:57:30
28. Luke Durbridge (Australia) 13:59:00
29. Ryan Mullen (Ireland) 14:00:30
30. Matthias Brändle (Austria) 14:02:00
31. Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan) 14:03:30
32. Martin Toft Madsen (Denmark) 14:05:00
33. Alex Dowsett (Great Britain) 14:06:30
34. Filippo Ganna (Italy) 14:08:00
35. Josef Cerny (Czech Republic) 14:09:30
36. Benjamin Thomas (France) 14:11:00
37. Tanel Kangert (Estonia) 14:12:30
38. Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 14:14:00
39. Bob Jungels (Luxembourg) 14:15:30
40. Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) 14:17:00
41. Stefan De Bod (South Africa) 14:18:30
42. Lawson Cradock (United States Of America) 14:20:00
43. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) 14:21:30
44. Jos van Emden (Netherlands) 14:23:00
44. Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) 14:24:30
45. Daniel Martinez (Colombia) 14:26:00
46. Maciej Bodnar (Poland) 14:27:30
47. Edoardo Affini (Italy) 14:29:00
48. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain) 14:30:30
49. Tony Martin (Germany) 14:32:00
50. Stefan Küng (Switzerland) 14:33:30
51. Chad Haga (United States Of America) 14:35:00
52. Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) 14:36:30
53. Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) 14:38:00
54. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) 14:39:30
55. Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) 14:41:00
56. Rohan Dennis (Australia) 14:42:30
