Great Britain hoping Adam Yates can spring a surprise at the World Championships

Adam Yates may have been a late draft into the Great Britain team for the World Championships but national coach Shane Sutton believes he has the best chance of taking a medal in the elite men’s road race.

Lizzie Armitstead won the rainbow jersey in the women’s race with an aggressive final lap and then a perfectly executed sprint finish. She distanced the sprinters on the final climb and then had the speed to beat Anna van der Breggen and Megan Guarnier in the sprint. The Great Britain men’s team is hoping for a similar outcome after losing Mark Cavendish as team leader due to a shoulder injury.

The elite men’s team will compete with eight riders, one down on their allocated quota of nine. Tour de France winner Chris Froome foot injury at the Vuelta a Espana ruled him out of the team while Geraint Thomas removed himself from the team last week, citing exhaustion.

“We’re doing a lot of good work towards Rio and I think we’ll be more successful there. I think people look back to Italy and how disappointing we were there but we have a decent squad here and I think we’ll be competitive.”

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