British Cycling revealed the longlist of selected riders who will hope to represent Great Britain at the Road World Championships later this month, all under the watchful eye of Sir Dave Brailsford.
Following a successful summer for the home nation riders in Glasgow, current Commonwealth road race champions Lizzie Armitstead and Geraint Thomas have made selection for the road races.
There are fourteen names on the men’s elite road race longlist with only eight places up for grabs, with nine women battling it out for six spots as well.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth time trial champion Alex Dowsett and last year’s world silver medallist and London 2012 champion Sir Bradley Wiggins will contest for a place in the men’s time trial with Steve Cummings and Thomas also looking to book one of the two places available.
However, while the riders’ places might not be confirmed for the trip to Spain just yet, Brailsford’s presence is guaranteed after it was announced that the 50-year-old – who stepped down as British Cycling performance director in April to focus solely on his role as Team Sky principal – will hold the reins for new chief technical director Shane Sutton.
"It made sense for me to ask Sir Dave to attend the Road World Championships, as obviously the road is his focus and full-time role,” said Sutton, who decided not travel to Ponferrada for the World Championships in order to concentrate on the British National Track Championships and then next month's European Track Championships in Guadeloupe.
"The decision allows me to stay in Manchester with the track riders for the nationals and to focus on the performances there which are increasingly important at this stage of the Olympic cycle.
“I’m pleased with the longlist of riders we have selected for the UCI Road World Championships, and we’re fortunate to have a strong pool of riders from which to make our final selection.
“It’s good to see Annie Last and Alice Barnes from the Olympic mountain bike squad named on the longlist as they could both prove to be assets to Lizzie given the hilly nature of the course, and it shows how we’re developing riders on the programmes.”
© Sportsbeat 2014