Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Ian Stannard leads Flecha and Dowsett for Sky(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Thomas Dekker (Garmin-Sharp) on the front(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
BMC will line up with Phinney, Pinotti, Gilbert and van Garderen(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Alessandro Petacchi puts his Lampre teammates through their paces(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Lars Bak leads the Lotto Belisol Team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Team Sky will race without Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Philippe Gilbert will race the TTT for BMC before focusing on the road race(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Itera - Katusha and Katusha Team will race the TTT(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Taylor Phinney leads BMC passed the Lotto team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Jurgen Roelandts and his Lotto teammates(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Lampre - ISD(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Rabobank team will be expected to make the podium on home soil(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rabobank Women Cyclng Team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rabobank's time trial squad(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Katusha team training on the time trial course(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
On Sunday the elite of professional cycling will officially descend on Valkenburg, Holland, for the start of the 2012 Worlds. The championships begin with the reintroduction of the team time trial – last seen in 1994 - with teams from the women’s and means trade team pelotons competing over a technical parcours.
The women will race over 34.2 km, while the men, who start later in the day, will compete over a distance of 53.2 km. Both sets of teams will start with six riders with squads timed after the fourth rider crosses the finish line.
A number of teams have been training on the course for several days but Friday marked a chance for riders to train on Zolder's race track. BMC, Sky, Lampre and a host of other teams were among those that tested themselves on the track before testing the actual Worlds course on Saturday.
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