Tom Pidcock and Zoe Backstedt lead GB squad for cycling World Championships

Tom Pidcock leads a strong Great Britain squad for the Road World Championships with the Briton a contender for the title in a field missing reigning champion Tadej Pogacar.

The annual event will be held in Montreal from 20 to 27 September, with GB selecting a 36-strong lineup across elite, under-23 and junior squads to compete for prestigious rainbow jerseys.

Pogacar will not defend his title after suffering injuries including a broken collarbone in a crash at the Vuelta a Espana, which brought a premature end to his season. Last year’s surprise winner in the elite women’s road race, Magdeleine Vallieres, has been named in the Canadian squad.

Pidcock is fresh from claiming a second mountain bike cross-country world title and two top-10 places at the end-of-season Canadian grand prix races in Quebec and Montreal, which are raced on similarly sharp, punchy terrain to that at the Worlds. The road race course includes a circuit which features heavily in the Montreal race, where Pidcock finished sixth.

The 27-year-old will be joined by Oscar Onley, who finished sixth overall and won the best young rider classification at the Vuelta last week, as well as former Tour de France podium finisher Adam Yates – who won the GP Montreal in 2023 – and national road race champion Fred Wright.

Callum Thornley will compete in both the road race and time trial with national time trial champion Ethan Hayter also racing against the clock, after the pair took a second place each in the Vuelta’s two TTs.

Cat Ferguson has had a difficult last few months with injury but returns to action in Montreal (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The men’s squad is completed by Mark Donovan, Finlay Pickering and James Shaw.

Zoe Backstedt leads the elite women’s squad after a breakthrough season including seven victories. The reigning under-23 world time trial champion will make the step up to senior level in Montreal and is among the favourites for the win in her specialist discipline.

Anna Morris, a multiple world champion on the track, will also compete against the clock in her debut road world championships.

Olympic time-trial silver medallist Anna Henderson, Pfeiffer Georgi, Lauren Dickson, Josie Nelson and Flora Perkins round out the women’s squad.

The women’s under-23 squad is led by Cat Ferguson, who returns to action after an injury-disrupted season so far, while former junior world TT silver medallist Ben Wiggins – son of Tour de France winner Bradley – will compete in the under-23 time trial and in the road race.