The top-class riders who won't be there (Tom Dumoulin, Chris Froome)
are worth noting. It's probably not a course for a pure powerhouse, but
for someone who can cope with the disruptions to their rhythm caused by
the ups and downs along the way.
Rohan Dennis of Australia is the defending champion. Geraint Thomas was
targeting this event, but pulled out on 21st September 2019 - so please
no longer vote for him.
Update 21st September 2019: the BBC reports that
Geraint Thomas has failed to get into shape after his post-Tour break,
and will not take part. His place is taken by John Archibald.
It is pretty surprising and disappointing. The text below was written
before this news.
It's fair to say that Geraint Thomas is a super-talented all-rounder,
rather than a pure time triallist. Still, when he puts his mind to it,
he can and does win time trials (for example Duesseldorf, TDF 2017).
The Yorkshire test against the clock is his end-of-season focus.
The up and down nature of the course might suit the Welshman.
I think Thomas is the favourite for this event, but what do I know?
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Rohan Dennis
Rohan Dennis is the time trial World Champion 2018. There's no doubt
that he is one of the very best racers against the clock at the
moment.
Dennis has a track background, winning an Olympic silver medal in
team pursuit at London 2012. He won the Stage 1 time trial in Utrecht
at the 2015 Tour de France.
In Innsbruck, he won the ITT by a big margin (over a minute) to
become World Champion. 2019 hasn't been so good: he left the Tour de
France on Stage 12 because he was unhappy with equipment provided by
his team.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Primoz Roglic
Slovenian Primoz Roglic started out as a ski jumper, but has become a
very successful road cyclist.
Roglic was second in the time trial at the 2017 World Championships
in Bergen. In 2019, he has won Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de
Romandie, and he was third in the Giro d'Italia.
At the time of writing (late August 2019), he is riding the Vuelta a
Espana, and much will depend on his form coming out of that race. It
does mean that he won't have as much specific preparation time for the
Yorkshire ITT as some of his rivals.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Victor Campenaerts
Belgian Campenaerts was national time trial champion in 2016 and
2018. He is the holder of the World Hour Record, which he broke in May
2019.
Another Belgian who could be a contender for the world title is
Thomas de Gendt - known as a breakaway specialist, he is a strong time
triallist, and could thrive on a relatively difficult course.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Stefan Kung
Stefan Kung is the Swiss national time trial champion from 2017,
2018, and 2019. He was fourth in the ITT at the European road cycling
championships recently.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Jonathan Castroviejo
Jonathan Castroviejo is a 32-year-old Spaniard. He rode for Movistar
for many years, and is now on Dave Brailsford's plastics and fracking
sponsored outfit.
Castroviejo is the 2019 Spanish national time trial champion, a title
he also won in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Jos van Emden
Jos van Emden is a 34-year-old time triallist from Schiedam in the
Netherlands.
Van Emden won a time trial stage of the 2017 Giro d'Italia, Stage 21,
on the day his compatriot Tom Dumoulin won the race overall. Van Emden
is the reigning Dutch national ITT champion.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Edoardo Affini
Edoardo Affini is a young (23 year old) Italian cyclist who rides for
Mitchelton Scott.
He was third in the time trial at the European Championships in
August. He won Stage 6 of the Tour of Britain 2019, a 14.5km time
trial stage on 12th September 2019, beating Sebastian Langeveld, Dylan
van Baarle, Luke Durbridge, Alex Dowsett, and Jos van Emden - as well
the rest of the field of course.
Favourites for the elite men's individual time trial, UCI 2019
Yorkshire Worlds: Remco Evenepoel
Belgian Remco Evenepoel is the 2018 World Junior Champion in time
trial and road race. He is only 19, but is so talented that he has
skipped the under 23 category to try to become senior World Champion.
Evenepoel won the San Sebastian Classic and the time trial at the
European Championships, both in August 2019. His team boss Patrick
Lefevre thinks he is 'not without a chance' of becoming time trial
World Champion.
