It has been two years since Great Britain had a road cycling world champion, after Lizzie Deignan brought home the rainbow stripes from Richmond, USA.
But, with a rich history of road cycling behind them, the Great Britain Cycling Team are heading to Bergen in Norway with a stellar squad, with realistic title and medal chances in every race.
The team
34 riders have been selected to represent the Great British Cycling Team with entrants across all ten events.
Elite men
In the elite men’s category, history-maker Chris Froome will look for the perfect end to an incredible season as he takes on the time trial.
Fresh from completing a Tour de France / Vuelta a Espana double, Froome is joined by Tao Geoghegan Hart in the time trial on a challenging course.
Nine British riders are set for the road race, with 2016 national road race champion Adam Blythe among the contenders.
Olympic track gold medallists Owain Doull and Peter Kennaugh are joined by track world champions Jon Dibben and Ben Swift - with Mark Christian, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ian Stannard and Scott Thwaites completing the line up.
Elite women
Lizzie Deignan will take to the start line in Bergen just weeks after a successful appendectomy.
The 2015 world champion became national road race champion on the Isle of Man earlier this year and would relish the chance to add another set of rainbow stripes to her impressive list of honours.
Joining Deignan for the road race are Olympic track gold medallists Elinor Barker and Dani King with European under-23 road race bronze medallist Alice Barnes and older sister Hannah, a former national road race champion, also in the line up.
The seven-strong women’s team is completed by under-23 national road race champion Mel Lowther and two-time national time trial champion Hayley Simmonds.
Hannah Barnes and Barker - a junior time trial world champion in 2012 - have been selected to race the elite women’s time trial as well as the road race.
Under-23 and junior
Six riders have been selected for under-23 men’s duty, with four-time under-23 men’s national time trial champion Scott Davies competing in both the time trial and road race.
Davies is joined by British Cycling programme riders Ethan Hayter, Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood as well as James Knox and James Shaw who complete the line up.
Tom Pidcock will aim to become a multi-discipline world champion in Norway.
Pidcock, who became national circuit race champion in Sheffield this summer, won rainbow stripes in Luxembourg in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships earlier this year and will compete in both the time trial and the road race in Bergen.
Fred Wright will also tackle both events, with Mark Donovan, Jake Stewart and Jacob Vaughan making up the team of five.
There will also be a team of five in the junior women’s race, with Rhona Callender, Jessica Roberts, Sophie Wright, Lauren Dolan and Pfeiffer Georgi selected for Bergen.
Dolan and Georgi will be on double duty as both have been selected for the time trial as well as the road race.
Great Britain Cycling Team for the UCI Road World Championships
Time trials
The circuits for the individual time trials all start by the Grieghallen concert hall in the centre of Bergen and will finish by Festplassen, close to the Lille Lungegardsvannet lake. The course will consist of a short lap and a long lap, with some reasonably steep climbs on the longer loop and a tricky 600m cobbled section in the closing stages.
Men’s time trial
For the first time at a UCI Road World Championships, the elite men’s time trial will finish with a 3.4km climb.
With an average gradient of 9.1%, the final kilometres up the city’s Mount Floyen will provide an exciting and spectacular finale to the 31km time trial course. The initial 27.5km will be ridden along rolling, more traditional time trial terrain.
It is envisaged that most riders will elect to change from a time trial bike to a road bike before tackling the climb. The change will be made in a designated zone at the foot of Mount Floyen, situated after a tight bend and on a slight incline where the riders will not have too much speed.
Road races
The road races will be held on the same circuit in Bergen. It departs from Festplassen and takes the riders up to Mount Ulriken which, with a 6.5% average gradient, will offer a good chance for a breakaway.
The circuit then goes around the old wooden housing in Sandviken, before the final stretch along Bryggen and the finish at Festplassen.
Elite men and junior men
The wild coastal landscape of western Norway will mark the start of the final event – the elite men’s road race.
The race will depart from Kollsnes and the teams will roll for 10km towards the spectacular Rognesund Bridge, which is where the junior men’s race will start.
After the bridge, the teams have a flat 20km towards Kolltveit. After a quick descent, teams face another flat 3km before they cross the 1236 metre-long Sotra suspension bridge before heading into Bergen.
The venue
2017 marks the second time that Norway has hosted the UCI Road World Championships, after Oslo hosted for the first time back in 1993.
The city of Bergen was founded on an old viking settlement in the year 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and is an international city, a capital of culture, with small-town charm and atmosphere.
The city with its 280,000 inhabitants has grown like an amphitheatre clambering up the mountainsides, overlooking the sea.
The schedule (UK times)
Monday 18 September
9.35am -10.50am: Junior women time trial
12.05pm - 4.25pm: Under-23 men time trial
Tuesday 19 September
10.35am - 12.15pm: Junior men time trial
2.35pm - 4.15pm: Elite women time trial
Wednesday 20 September
12.05pm - 4.25pm: Elite men time trial
Thursday 21 September
Training day
Friday 22 September
9.05am - 11.15am: Junior women’s road race
12.15pm - 4.35pm: Under-23 men’s road race
Saturday 23 September
8.30am - 11.45am: Junior men’s road race
12.30pm - 4.30pm: Elite women’s road race
Sunday 24 September
9.05am - 3.45pm: Elite men’s road race
How to follow
- Updates on @BritishCycling on Twitter.
- Follow BritishCycling on Instagram for daily stories from the heart of the action.
- Report and images on British Cycling website.
- Video interviews with riders on Facebook and Twitter.
- Live coverage and highlights of elite finals on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Sport website and the BBC Red Button
