Analysing Great Britain's 2022 Road World Championships teams

Ahead of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, Cyclingnews is taking a deep dive into the key teams for the elite road races. Next up: Great Britain.

History

The most recent British winner at the elite World Championships was Lizzie Deignan in 2015. She has been the squad's reliable performer over the last decade, also finishing fourth in 2016 and sixth in 2020. Pregnancy means the Trek-Segafredo star is not racing this season, with her second child due this month. 

Before her, Nicole Cooke pulled on the rainbow bands after her triumph in 2008.

Meanwhile, sixth place for Tom Pidcock in Leuven last year was the first top-10 finish in four years for the men’s team. Mark Cavendish finished as runner-up in Doha to Peter Sagan in 2016. It’s 11 years since he pulled on the rainbow jersey, sprinting to victory in Copenhagen.

Line-ups

Women elite

• Elynor Bäckstedt (Trek-Segafredo)
• Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM)
• Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma)
• Elizabeth Holden (Le Col-Wahoo)
• Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx)
• Alice Towers (Le Col-Wahoo)

Men elite

• Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ)
• Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Connor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic)
• Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious)

Key riders

Ethan Hayter and Fred Wright were teammates many moons ago growing up in south London; thousands of miles away, they will be the frontmen for Great Britain in Wollongong.

The versatile Wright has good form and high confidence after a scintillating summer where he has done everything except win, contending in numerous Tour de France and Vuelta a España breakaways and mixing it at the sharp end of bunch sprints – although he won’t be on Primož Roglič’s Christmas card list.

Hayter’s Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta was curtailed by a COVID-19 positive, forcing him to abandon after stage 9. The Tour of Poland winner may well be a better bet for time trial contention than road race silverware, though his fast finish makes him a rider to be wary of from a small group.

21-year-old Ben Tulett could be a man to join a mid-race breakaway too. The 56kg climber is developing strongly, winning a Settimana Coppi e Bartali stage this spring and finishing fifth at the Tour of Poland. Making his elite Worlds debut, this will be the longest race of his life.

Experienced duo Ben Swift and Luke Rowe will act as road captains to protect, position and call the shots.

In the women’s race, handy climber Anna Shackley is coming off seventh at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, the best WorldTour result of her young career. Meanwhile, handed a chance to shine after spending much of the season as road captain with Team DSM, Pfeiffer Georgi can show her tactical nous and powerful engine. Both are eligible for the under-23 rainbow jersey too, as are Bäckstedt and Towers.

Jumbo-Visma rider Anna Henderson has been prominent this season in numerous breakaways and provides another option.

Strengths

This is a chance for Great Britain’s next generation to step up and those making the journey to the other side of the world will be motivated. The likes of Hayter, Stewart and Wright are all in form too, coming off decent results in recent months.

Their underdog status means that they will not be expected to take the races by the scruff of the neck and can freelance off the work of stronger teams. However, for a top-10 finish, they will likely need to race on the front foot and anticipate the moves of pre-race favourites.

Great Britain’s women have a good shot at the under-23 competition, which is included in the elite women’s race until a standalone competition is held in 2025. It will be interesting to see how the team approaches this race within a race, which could lead to some peculiar tactics.

Targeting a hard-to-control competition is a curious gambit. There’s an argument to be made that Great Britain should aim for the highest result against the best in the world, regardless.

Weaknesses

Inexperience. Aside from veterans Luke Rowe and Ben Swift, the 12 other racers selected are 26 years old or under. Hayter followed up an impressive 2021 with six wins this year, but he’s still unproven in the sport’s longest and most prestigious one-day races. This will also be his first elite Worlds as a leader, the same goes for Fred Wright.

With its nigh-on 4,000 metres of climbing, the course may prove too tough for him deep in the finale, especially if the likes of Van Aert or Pogačar hit the gas. There’s also the matter that Wright hasn’t won a pro race yet and appeared to overcommit at the Vuelta on stage 5 into Bilbao when presented with a good opportunity.

The view from Great Britain

The line-ups are lacking some depth. The absence of expected leader Tom Pidcock is a blow. Grand Tour winners Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart are not racing here, nor are the Yates brothers. Adam, in particular, showed flying form at the Deutschland Tour and Canadian one-day WorldTour races. Meanwhile, it’s been known all year that linchpin Lizzie Deignan would be away.

This youthful selection are still on the way up and have a decade of opportunities ahead of them. That doesn’t mean they can’t spring a surprise or two already, though. Let’s see, to paraphrase a famous British football phrase, whether Great Britain can win anything with kids.

On that note, in Josh Tarling and defending road race champion Zoe Bäckstedt, Great Britain have two favourites for junior titles against the clock and in the road race.