Men's World Championship road race predictions and cycling betting tips: Remco Evenepoel could hold on to rainbow jersey

Where to watch the men's World Championship road race

BBC One, BBC iPlayer and Eurosport 1, from 9.30am Sunday

Best bet

Remco Evenepoel
3pts each-way 5-1 Hills

Men's world championship road race predictions

The dust has barely settled on one of the most enthralling editions of the Tour de France in recent memory but the best male road cyclists must do battle again on Sunday in the World Championship road race.

It's rainbow bands not yellow jerseys that the peloton are chasing in Scotland, and world champion Remco Evenepoel could be the man they all have to beat.

Evenepoel is part of a stacked Belgian squad also featuring Wout van Aert and this year's Tour sprinter supreme Jasper Philipsen - and all have legitimate claims to becoming world champion in Glasgow on Sunday.

The 271.5km route begins in Edinburgh and heads west across Scotland for 120km before entering Glasgow for ten laps of a 14.3km circuit, which is extremely technical and features a number of short, punchy climbs and downhill twists.

It's a course tailor-made for Classics specialists, of which fancied trio Evenepoel, Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel are among the very best, and much like last year in Australia, Evenepoel's instinctive racecraft may prove the difference.

The young Belgian is a fearless racer who frequently throws conventional wisdom out of the window when it comes to tactics.

Evenepoel has made a habit of striking for home and winning in splendid isolation or in a very select group of two or three riders during his short career and if he gets away, the twisting nature of the finishing circuit will play to those strengths.

After being forced to leave May's Giro d'Italia when leading the race due to a positive Covid test, the Belgian made a promising return to racing at the Tour de Suisse before winning the Belgian national championship at the end of June and a third Clasica San Sebastian in four editions last weekend. 

Hills go a quarter the odds four places each-way and even at 5-1 Evenepoel is a decent proposition with those terms.

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