Sunday’s road race is expected to be a wide open affair, in which riders of every possible characteristics, except Alberto Contador, seem to fancy their own chances. When it comes to choosing the strongest nation, though, Australia certainly takes the pole position as they will enter the World Championship road race with not one, but two extremely strong and in-form winner candidates.

Having Simon Gerrans in the squad, who is able to adapt to almost every possible scenario and is know for timing his disposition just perfectly for targeted events, as well as in-form Michael Matthews, the Australian national team will decide on which horse to play on the road.

Depending on which rider is asked for predictions ahead of Sunday, the event is expected to be either too easy or too difficult, what usually indicates a race tailor made for Alejandro Valverde. Even though Gerrans also fancy his own chances, his opinion on the development of tomorrow’s affair certainly falls into the second category.

“I’ve been crunching numbers on the Worlds over the years and looking at the amount of metres we’re going to climb on Sunday, it’s going to make the race quite selective,” Gerrans said. “Although that’s just the parcours and it’s the riders who make the race. Liege is a very difficult race too but the main point of difference is that Worlds is on a circuit and there’s very little recovery, so it becomes a real race of attrition.”

The general opinion as well as statistics suggest that Vuelta a Espana is the best preparation event for the World Championships, but riders seem to come out of the Spanish event more fatigued than usually this year, as well as out of the Tour of Britain.

Rui Costa’s triumph in Florence after following a one-day programme gives the Australian captain confidence in this kind of build-up, although, he wisely acknowledged that it’s too soon to tell and too late to change anything in this department.

“I wasn’t at the Vuelta but by all reports it was a difficult one and maybe some guys are coming out carrying more fatigue than they expected,” Gerrans said. “And Costa winning the Worlds coming out of the one-day programme last year has given me a bit of confidence that I made the right choice. It’s difficult to say which is a better way to prepare, but when you get to this point, you can’t change it.”

“I think you’ve heard Michael saw it four times already, but it’s a decision we’re going to make on the road, we’re not going to set it in stone before the race,” Gerrans said of the leadership issue.

While Gerrans excelled in the one-day campaign in Canada on his way to World Championships, another major Australian weapon – Michael Matthews, continued at the Vuelta exactly what he had started earlier in the Giro d’Italia. Which simply means enjoying early stints in leaders jerseys earned by taking victories in tricky sprint finales. Even though an injury time-out forced him out of the Tour de France and significantly changed his race programme, the 24-year old Orica-GreenEDGE insists that when it comes to his disposition ahead of the road race it only came out for good.

“I was going really well in the Vuelta. After I missed the Tour, I prepared really well it, so now I’m coming in here in the best shape possible. I could feel the progression through the Vuelta,” Matthews said, adding that team leadership was not something that will be fixed beforehand.

“We’re here with a strong team but we’ll go for the best person and we’ll decide in the last few laps who is the strongest. We’re all Australian and here with the same goal of winning the race.”

Cadel Evans is another Australian rider capable of excelling on the hilly parcours around Ponferrada, but he claims that his main role will be to support Gerrans and Matthews in the finale.

“I’m here for my experience and my ability to be there in the final and do what’s required for the team. I’m not going to pretend I’m going as well as these two guys, but I’ve got my [world champion’s] stripes on my jersey so I’m pretty calm about it in some regard as well.”

The jury is out when it comes to predicting the most probable scenario for the Sunday’s road race. Opinions seem to vary from one rider to another and even though the U23 event held on Friday was expected to be some help, Matthews warned of treating it as reliable guideline.

“The Aussies rode to make a bunch sprint for Caleb but for our race that’s going to be difficult because there are so many strong riders who’ll be going on the attack from three laps out,” Matthews said. “It gave me a bit more confidence knowing he was there in the final but it’s going to be a totally different race.”