The UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda come to a close this Sunday with the elite men's road race.
In total, 165 riders from 57 countries will take part in the event, which starts and finishes in the capital city, Kigali.
The route has widely been hailed as one of the hardest World Championships courses in history, climbing 5,475m over 267.5km. It's expect to be one for the climbers, of which there are many on the start list.
Headlining the list of favourites is defending champion Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia), a four-time Tour de France champion and the current top-ranked cyclist in the world.
Speaking ahead of the race, Pogačar said "expectations are high", and that he'll be aiming "for the best".
"I think we have one of the strongest teams here, so we should be considered as top contenders," he said.
Asked who he sees as potential rainbow jersey challengers, the Slovenian singled out Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), the winner of the individual time trial last Sunday, as well as his UAE Team-Emirates team-mate Isaac del Toro (Mexico), who finished runner-up at the Giro d'Italia, and has won 13 races this year.
"Then you have [Tom] Pidcock – he’s coming off a good Vuelta, so maybe he still has really good legs," Pogačar added, pointing to one of Great Britain's gold medal hopes, who will lead his squad alongside Oscar Onley.
Other contenders on the start list include Juan Ayuso (Spain), Thymen Arensman (Netherlands), Matthias Skjelmose (Denmark) and Ben Healy (Ireland).
There are three former road world champions competing in the road race in Rwanda: Pogačar, Evenepoel and Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, who won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021.
The official start list, including each rider's bib number and country, is published below.
For more information on the course, visit our route guide.
Want to follow the race live? Find out your streaming options through our how-to-watch page.
Men's elite road race start list
Bib number |
Rider |
Country |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Tadej Pogačar |
Slovenia |
2 |
Gal Glivar |
Slovenia |
3 |
Matevž Govekar |
Slovenia |
4 |
Luka Mezgec |
Slovenia |
5 |
Matej Mohorič |
Slovenia |
6 |
Domen Novak |
Slovenia |
7 |
Jaka Primožič |
Slovenia |
8 |
Primož Roglič |
Slovenia |
9 |
Matic Žumer |
Slovenia |
10 |
Victor Campenaerts |
Belgium |
11 |
Remco Evenepoel |
Belgium |
12 |
Quinten Hermans |
Belgium |
13 |
Xandro Meurisse |
Belgium |
14 |
Cian Uijtdebroeks |
Belgium |
15 |
Ilan Van Wilder |
Belgium |
16 |
Florian Vermeersch |
Belgium |
17 |
Louis Vervaeke |
Belgium |
18 |
Anthon Charmig |
Denmark |
19 |
Anders Foldager |
Denmark |
20 |
Asbjørn Hellemose |
Denmark |
21 |
Mikkel Honoré |
Denmark |
22 |
Christopher Jensen |
Denmark |
23 |
Mattias Skjelmose |
Denmark |
24 |
Alexander Kamp |
Denmark |
25 |
Casper Pedersen |
Denmark |
26 |
Andrea Bagioli |
Italy |
27 |
Mattia Cattaneo |
Italy |
28 |
Giulio Ciccone |
Italy |
29 |
Lorenzo Fortunato |
Italy |
30 |
Marco Frigo |
Italy |
31 |
Fausto Masnada |
Italy |
32 |
Gianmarco Garofoli |
Italy |
33 |
Matteo Sobrero |
Italy |
34 |
Joseph Blackmore |
Great Britain |
35 |
Mark Donovan |
Great Britain |
36 |
Oliver Knight |
Great Britain |
37 |
James Knox |
Great Britain |
38 |
Bjoern Koerdt |
Great Britain |
39 |
Oscar Onley |
Great Britain |
40 |
Tom Pidcock |
Great Britain |
41 |
Fred Wright |
Great Britain |
42 |
Julian Alaphilippe |
France |
43 |
Louis Barre |
France |
44 |
Julien Bernard |
France |
45 |
Jordan Jegat |
France |
46 |
Valentin Madouas |
France |
47 |
Valentin Paret Peintre |
France |
48 |
Paul Seixas |
France |
49 |
Pavel Sivakov |
France |
50 |
Thymen Arensman |
Netherlands |
51 |
Menno Huising |
Netherlands |
52 |
Bauke Mollema |
Netherlands |
53 |
Sam Oomen |
Netherlands |
54 |
Wouter Poels |
Netherlands |
55 |
Frank van den Broek |
Netherlands |
56 |
Christopher Hamilton |
Australia |
57 |
Jai Hindley |
Australia |
58 |
Damien Howson |
Australia |
59 |
Michael Matthews |
Australia |
60 |
Lucas Plapp |
Australia |
61 |
Callum Scotson |
Australia |
62 |
Michael Storer |
Australia |
63 |
Jay Vine |
Australia |
64 |
William Barta |
United States |
65 |
Luke Lamperti |
United States |
66 |
Quinn Simmons |
United States |
67 |
Kevin Vermaerke |
United States |
68 |
Lawrence Warbasse |
United States |
69 |
Roger Adrià |
Spain |
70 |
Juan Ayuso |
Spain |
71 |
Abel Balderstone |
Spain |
72 |
Carlos Canal |
Spain |
73 |
Raul García Pierna |
Spain |
74 |
Iván Romeo |
Spain |
75 |
Marc Soler |
Spain |
76 |
Carlos Verona |
Spain |
77 |
Ivo Oliveira |
Portugal |
78 |
Tiago Antunes |
Portugal |
79 |
Afonso Eulálio |
Portugal |
80 |
Tomas Morgado |
Portugal |
81 |
Fabio Christen |
Switzerland |
82 |
Jan Christen |
Switzerland |
83 |
Marc Hirschi |
Switzerland |
84 |
Mauro Schmid |
Switzerland |
85 |
Fabian Weiss |
Switzerland |
86 |
Sven Erik Bystrøm |
Norway |
87 |
Andreas Leknessund |
Norway |
88 |
Johannes Staune-Mittet |
Norway |
89 |
Embret Svestad-Bårdseng |
Norway |
90 |
Felix Engelhardt |
Germany |
91 |
Marius Mayrhofer |
Germany |
92 |
Jonas Rutsch |
Germany |
93 |
Georg Zimmermann |
Germany |
94 |
Egan Bernal |
Colombia |
95 |
Brandon Rivera |
Colombia |
96 |
Harold Tejada |
Colombia |
97 |
Walter Vargas |
Colombia |
98 |
Jonathan Caicedo |
Ecuador |
99 |
Richard Carapaz |
Ecuador |
100 |
Harold Lopez Granizo |
Ecuador |
101 |
Isaac Del Toro |
Mexico |
102 |
Frayre Moctezuma |
Mexico |
103 |
David Ruvalcaba |
Mexico |
104 |
Eddie Dunbar |
Ireland |
105 |
Ben Healy |
Ireland |
106 |
Ryan Mullen |
Ireland |
107 |
Darren Rafferty |
Ireland |
108 |
Rory Townsend |
Ireland |
109 |
Nahom Araya |
Eritrea |
110 |
Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier |
Eritrea |
111 |
Biniam Girmay |
Eritrea |
112 |
Merhawi Kudus |
Eritrea |
113 |
Henok Mulubrhan |
Eritrea |
114 |
Natnael Tesfazion |
Eritrea |
115 |
Laurent Gervais |
Canada |
116 |
Michael Leonard |
Canada |
117 |
Michael Boroš |
Czech Republic |
118 |
Šimon Vaníček |
Czech Republic |
119 |
Rein Taaramäe |
Estonia |
120 |
Penuela Sandoval |
Venezuela |
121 |
Martin Svrček |
Slovakia |
122 |
Kristians Belohvosciks |
Latvia |
123 |
Krists Neilands |
Latvia |
124 |
Martin Pluto |
Latvia |
125 |
Toms Skujins |
Latvia |
126 |
Byron Munton |
South Africa |
127 |
Yuhi Todome |
Japan |
128 |
Slimane Badlis |
Algeria |
129 |
Nikolaos Michail Drakos |
Greece |
130 |
Tegshbayar Batsaikhan |
Mongolia |
131 |
Attila Valter |
Hungary |
132 |
Archibold Castillo |
Panama |
133 |
Peerapol Chawchiangkwang |
Thailand |
134 |
Anatolii Budiak |
Ukraine |
135 |
Muradjan Khalmuratov |
Uzbekistan |
136 |
Nadav Raisberg |
Israel |
137 |
Chumil Gonzalez |
Guatemala |
138 |
Haoyu Su |
China |
139 |
Mattew-Denis Piciu |
Romania |
140 |
Ognjen Ilić |
Serbia |
141 |
Alexandre Mayer |
Mauritius |
142 |
Gabriel Rojas Campos |
Costa Rica |
143 |
Jyven Gonzalez |
Belize |
144 |
Victor Langellotti |
Monaco |
145 |
Charles Kagimu |
Uganda |
146 |
Da Silva Avancini |
Brazil |
147 |
Ahmet Orken |
Turkey |
148 |
Eric Manizabayo |
Rwanda |
149 |
Vainqueur Masengesho |
Rwanda |
150 |
Patrick Byukusenge |
Rwanda |
151 |
Eric Muhoza |
Rwanda |
152 |
Eric Nkundabera |
Rwanda |
153 |
Shemu Nsengiyumva |
Rwanda |
154 |
Red Walters |
Grenada |
155 |
Edwin Ndungu |
Kenya |
156 |
Briton John |
Guyana |
157 |
Djandouba Diallo |
Mali |
158 |
Siriki Diarra |
Mali |
159 |
Ahmad Badreddin Wais |
Refugee Team |
160 |
Chiekhouna Cisse |
Senegal |
161 |
Mauro Alfredo |
São Tomé and Príncipe |
162 |
Ediney Do Rosario |
São Tomé and Príncipe |
163 |
Artem Nych |
Individual Neutral Athlete |
164 |
Ibrahim Jalloh |
Sierra Leone |
165 |
Mustapha Koroma |
Sierra Leone |
