USA women's team aims for World Championship glory

The United States women's team riders, Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben and Christine Thorburn, have reported they're in medal-winning form following a final training session on Tuesday ahead of this week's UCI Road World Championships.

"The course suits me well," commented Armstrong, who recently won the Euregio Ladies Tour. "It's very technical in the beginning and the climbs are short and steep and not super long. Last year was a big result or me, and it's only natural to want to do even better."

The trio are under no illusions about the task ahead. Despite finishing in the top eight at last year's World Championships, the women acknowledge Austria's reigning title holder Christiane Soeder will be difficult to beat on home soil. "It's all going to come down to who has the perfect day," added Armstrong. "Christiane had a really good time trial in France last week (at the Chrono Champenois) where she placed second to Karen by less than a second in a 45-minute race. Usually nobody comes that close to Karen in a time trial, so both Karen and Christiane are both going really good right now."