Lang dreaming of bronze

"My dream is a bronze medal," says Gerolsteiner's Sebastian Lang, one of Germany's hopes for a medal in the time trial at the world road championships. "Rogers, Cancellara, Millar, Lang and Klöden - those are my favourites for the podium."

Lang rode the Tour de France for the third time this year, with excellent results in the time trials, finishing fourth, third and fifth, though Lang said "time trials in a stage race and as a world championship race are two different things".

This summer, Lang did his first altitude training in his career - and it worked. In his next race, the 3-Länder Tour, he used a win in the time trial to propel himself to the overall win. There, he beat Andreas Klöden in the time trial, but doesn't expect that to happen again this week.

"I think Andreas will be much stronger in Salzburg than he was in the time trial in Griesheim," Lang told German press agency dpa, "especially the race profile with three climbs is good for him."

Lang and Klöden will both be riding only the time trial in Salzburg. "Our federation tried to convince me [to ride the road race as well], although at first, I was only nominated for the time trial. The UCI should consider shortening the road race - then there would probably be more big names at the start."