2019 Road World Championships: Men's road race betting preview and free tips

Cycling tips, best bets and predictions for Road World Championship men's road race at Yorkshire 2019.

Where to watch

BBC 2 & Eurosport 1, starts 8.40am Sunday

Best bet

Sam Bennett
1pt each-way 28-1 Betway

Match preview

Veteran racer Alejandro Valverde belatedly earned the mantle of world champion after 16 years of trying in Innsbruck last year, but a rider in his first elite world championship has been all the rage for Yorkshire 2019.

Holland's Mathieu van der Poel doesn't even ride on the World Tour yet but when he has stepped into the elite class he has done so with devastating effect.

His win at Amstel Gold Race in April, when he single-handedly hauled himself back to the finish with a full-on effort for 6km before outsprinting the field, was the highlight of the Spring Classics. And judged by a dominant win in the recent Tour of Britain, when he won three of the eight stages, he has maintained his form.

The 280km distance is perhaps the only concern about the 5-2 favourite, who clearly thrives on the hilly terrain Sunday's showpiece will be played out on.

The anticipation is that a select group of one-day specialists will break clear before the final seven laps of a circuit in Harrogate, giving the likes of three-time winner Peter Sagan, Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet and Julian Alaphilippe a fantastic opportunity.

But if it does stay together then Ireland's Sam Bennett could be the man to serve it up to Van der Poel.

Bennett won two stages, and finished second four more times, at the recent Vuelta a Espana, and he has shown in the past that he is more than capable of toughing it out on the climbs.

If he can hang on to the coattails of the favourites on the testing first half of the course, he would be one of the riders they fear most should it come down to a sprint.

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