Germany names men's long list for UCI Road World Championships

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The German cycling federation has issued its long list of male elite riders for the UCI Road World Championships in Limburg, the Netherlands. Fourteen riders have been named for a possible start in the 261km road race which takes place on September 23, with the women's and junior teams to be nominated at a later date.

Germany is eligible to send a team of seven riders to this year's championships, down two from last year where a team of nine lined up in Copenhagen. 2011 bronze medallist, André Greipel had already indicated that he would not be part of the 2012 German team and so was not named.

"The route is too difficult for me," Greipel told Focus Online earlier this week. "From the beginning, I'm not ready for it."

Preliminary line-up for the men's world championship road races:
Marcus Burghardt (BMC)
Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano)
Johannes Fröhlinger (Argos-Shimano)
Linus Gerdemann (RadioShack)
Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano)
Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano)
Christian Knees (Sky)
Paul Martens (Rabobank)
Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale)
Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol)
Fabian Wegmann (Garmin)

As defending champion, Tony Martin earns automatic qualification for the individual time trial while Grabsch and Gretsch have also been nominated for the 45.7 km event.