Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley are set to lead the Great Britain cycling team in the men’s elite road race at the UCI World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, on September 28.
After breakout Grand Tour performances at La Vuelta — where Pidcock finished third — and the Tour de France — where Onley was fourth — the pair will be looking to take the fight to the race favourite and defending road-race world champion, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, on the brutal route covering 268km and about 5,400m of elevation.
It is the first time the world championships have been held in Africa, with the individual time-trials starting on Sunday, culminating in the men’s elite road race a week later.
Onley, the 22-year-old from Kelso, was hugely impressive in the Tour de France, and at times managed to keep pace with Pogacar, most notably on stage 18’s summit finish up the Col de la Loze.
Pidcock, meanwhile, had a fantastic Vuelta, managing to drop the likes of two-times Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard on the punchy stage 11 in Bilbao on his way to third place overall to show how well he can thrive on a hard and hilly day.
The 26-year-old from Leeds has already been world champion in cross-country mountain biking (2023) and cyclocross (2022) and is hoping to add road racing in Kigali to become the only man to have been world champion in all three. He will also be going to the gravel world championships in October.
Onley proved he can mix it with the very best in finishing fourth on the Tour
ALAMY
The difficult course, which includes 15 strenuous and hilly laps of the Rwandan capital as well as one “extension” which takes in the 6km Mont Kigali with an average gradient of 7 per cent, will suit the climbers and puncheurs in particular. The city sits at an elevation of 1,567m above sea level, adding high altitude to the hardships the riders will face.
It’s such a tough route that the all-rounders Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert have opted out, believing it not to suit their strengths. But the British team will be up against determined competition from riders such as Remco Evenepoel of Belgium, Julian Alaphilippe of France, Juan Ayuso of Spain and Isaac del Toro of Mexico as well as Pogacar. La Vuelta winner Vingegaard has chosen not to race this year.
Supporting Pidcock and Onley in their bid for the iconic rainbow bands will be London’s Fred Wright, Penrith’s Mark Donovan and Kendal’s James Knox. Britain is also bringing the 2024 Tour of Rwanda winner Joe Blackmore from London, Oliver Knight from Bedford and Bjorn Koerdt from Leeds. It is a strong group of riders for the two leaders to rely on.
In the women’s categories, Hemel Hempstead’s Anna Henderson will be Great Britain’s sole hope in the elite levels, taking on the time-trial on September 21, while Wales’s 20-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt will be taking on the under-23 time trial on September 22. The 19-year-olds Cat Ferguson of Skipton and Imogen Wolff of Silkstone Common will be racing the women’s under 23-road race on September 25.
“It’s fantastic to be part of this historic event, the first road world championships in Africa,” the GB performance director Stephen Park said. “The event provides a tough course that will ask a lot from our riders, but I am confident that, as ever, they are up to the task and will bring home some fantastic results.
“The event in Rwanda offers huge development opportunities for our younger riders to get a taste of racing at this level, while pushing our elite riders to their limits and I have no doubt these championships will deliver a true spectacle that will showcase bike racing at its best.”