Half of the British team for the elite men’s road race have just finished the Vuelta a España, and will be looking to carry their form through to the road Montreal World Championships in Canada and provide support for a “genuine contender for the win” in leader Tom Pidcock.
Making up the Scottish contingent will be Vuelta Best Young Rider and sixth-place finisher Oscar Onley, and time trial breakthrough rider Callum Thornley, with the former racing his third elite Worlds RR in a row and the latter making his debut.
Both are confident with Pidcock among their ranks, but for Onley, after a gritty performance in Spain, he will be racing just his first one-day race of the 2026 season. His previous best result is from Zurich in 2024, when he was 16th as GB’s top finisher.
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“Well, I’m hoping that three weeks riding around Spain is good training for Worlds,” Onley told Cyclingnews in Granada after stage 21.
“I’m hoping I come out of this in good shape, recover quite well, and then I think in the road race we have a really exciting opportunity as the GB team with Tom [Pidcock] and [Adam]. I hope to be there deep in the final as well to really support those guys.”
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For his fellow Scot Thornley, it was a surprise to be included in the team as the only rider doing both the time trial, on September 20, and the road race a week later. But given his runner-up finish behind only Stefan Küng on stage 18 of the Vuelta against the clock, he’s got the form to put in a solid performance alongside Ethan Hayter.
“I’m doing the TT and the road race, so that’s the next target. I’m really, really happy with that, super excited to travel on Wednesday for the TT,” he told Cyclingnews last Sunday.
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“I never thought at the start of the year that the Worlds TT would be a goal, but now it is, and I’m going there, and I’ll aim high and try and get a medal. I’m super excited.”
Aside from excelling in the TT, Thornley had also been part of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team supporting Primož Roglič in his GC bid at the Vuelta, eventually finishing second behind Enric Mas. It’s an experience he described as unforgettable on debut.
“It really is surreal. Every day when they introduce him to all the fans on the podium, the applause he gets is like quite similar to when a goal is scored in a football stadium,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s been an honour, and I think I’ll remember forever that my first Grand Tour was riding for Primož Roglič.”
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But this also meant that he saw first-hand how much of an effect Tadej Pogačar leaving the race could have, with his stage 8 crash and DNF suddenly pushing Red Bull into a situation where they were fighting for the win – a scenario they had not envisaged before the start.
The same will be true of Worlds, with the Slovenian unable to recover in time: with him out, it puts the likes of Great Britain more in the running for the rainbow jersey, when it originally looked almost a given that Pogačar would win his third world title in a row.
“I think it’s kind of like an unspoken thing. Everyone is now aware that it’s a very open race and there’s a lot of people who can win, but it’s not really something that’s talked about,” said Thornley.
“But I think for sure, all those big guys who would usually be fighting for the podium are now fighting for the win, and I’m sure it makes it even more at stake than normal, really.”
“And for us, it’ll be cool. Especially racing with Tom because he’s really a genuine contender to win, and the rest of the team is also super strong. I’m excited to race with my fellow countrymen and just be all in for one goal, so I’m super positive to be a part of the elite Worlds for the first time.”
Alongside Onley and Thornley heading from the Vuelta to Worlds for Great Britain are James Shaw and Finlay Pickering, with Pidcock, Yates, Fred Wright, and Mark Donovan making up the rest of the eight-man squad for the road race on September 27.
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