Tom Pidcock, Lizzie Deignan, Mark Cavendish lead Great Britain for road world championships

Great Britain will be bringing veteran experience and youthful exuberance to this year’s UCI world road championships.

Former champions Mark Cavendish and Lizzie Deignan will be racing alongside hot young talents Tom Pidcock, Ethan Hayter, and Anna Shackley in the Flandrien worlds, starting this weekend.

Also read:

• Your ultimate guide to the 2021 road worlds
• Ethan Hayter, the new British ace rising the ranks at Ineos Grenadiers

Pidcock, Hayter, and rising one-day racer Connor Swift will give GB options for the hilly men’s road race, which looks set to bring explosive, classics style-racing.

Although multi-discipline maestro Pidcock would make a go-to protected rider for next Sunday’s race after his clashes with Wout van Aert in the Ardennes this spring, GB director Stephen Park said the team will keep its options open.

“It will be interesting to see how the elite men’s road race plays out,” Park said Monday. “Based on what we know about the course and with so many riders in top form, we’ve made the decision not to go with one team leader, giving us a number of options as the race plays out.”

Cavendish, the 2010 world champion, is likely to play a road captaincy role alongside Luke Rowe. Ben Swift, Jake Stewart, and Fred Wright round out the GB eight-man squad. Former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas was not selected.

Flanders is calling 🇧🇪🚲

It's almost time for the 2021 @UCI_cycling Road World Championships

Here are the phenomenal #GBCT riders that will be representing 🇬🇧

Full Report ⬇️https://t.co/V4rcd1SYSG pic.twitter.com/OLz191llBi

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) September 13, 2021

The 2015 champion Deignan is similarly set to bring a stack of experience to a youthful women’s team in her push for a second rainbow jersey.

“The road world championships are a key feature for the Great Britain cycling team’s road squad, and for me, personally, it will be great to see the likes of Mark and Lizzie bring their form and experience into a team keen to do the jersey proud and bring back medals,” Park said.

Deignan will guide a women’s road race team with three riders who are younger than 22 in Shackley, Anna Hendersen, and Pfeiffer Georgi. Alice Barnes and Joss Lowden have also made the cut for the road race.

The 20-year-old Georgi will compete alongside Lowden, who will attempt to beat the world hour record next month, in the time trial.

Tour of Britain and Olympic track star Hayter has been selected alongside aero aficionado Dan Bigham for the men’s TT. Bigham races for continental team Ribble Weldtite while also providing tech and TT services to several WorldTour teams.

Elite Women’s Road Race

• Lizzie Deignan
• Anna Shackley
• Alice Barnes
• Anna Henderson
• Pfeiffer Georgi
• Joss Lowden

Elite Women’s Time Trial

• Joss Lowden
• Pfeiffer Georgi

Men’s Elite Road Race

• Tom Pidcock
• Luke Rowe
• Fred Wright
• Jake Stewart
• Connor Swift
• Ben Swift
• Mark Cavendish
• Ethan Hayter

Men’s Elite Time Trial

• Ethan Hayter
• Dan Bigham