World Cycling Championships

The Road World Championships are cycling's annual competition to find the world's best individual riders.

This year they are being held in Stuttgart, Germany, from 26-30 September and the main events will be broadcast live on BBC television.

Here is BBC Sport's guide to the pinnacle of road racing, considered by many riders to be as important as the Tour de France.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

The winner of each of the six events is the World Champion and gets to wear the World Champion's rainbow jersey for the following season.

While some riders dream of wearing the yellow or pink jersey of races like the Tour de France or the Giro D'Italia, every rider dreams of wearing the rainbow.

The Championships are comprised of two events: the time trial and the road race in both the men's and women's categories.

But for the men there is an under-23 version of both events as well as the elite, whereas the women contest just the time trail and the road race at elite level.

The road races at the Worlds are like no other in the cycling calendar - professional allegiances are thrown aside in favour of national pride.

But in a long war of attrition where the 166-mile course and tactics can dictate the result as much as form, riders will have to get help from colleagues as well as fellow countrymen.

HOW MANY RIDERS CAN ENTER?

As with many things related to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the qualification criteria are less than straightforward. The simplest explanation is that a strong presence in the Pro-Tour gives nations a big advantage in the numbers game.

The traditional powerhouses such as France, Italy and Belgium all get an allocation of nine riders in the road race, whereas countries like Britain can only field three, putting them among the smaller nations who will look to profit from the work of the big squads.

ONES TO WATCH

Men's Elite Time Trial: Britain's Bradley Wiggins will want to build on his strong time-trial performances in the Tour de France, and with David Millar also declaring himself up for the challenge of reclaiming a jersey of which he has previously been stripped (in 2003), many will see this as the best chance for British glory at the championships.

Standing in their way will be defending champion Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), who also won the London time trial in the Tour de France and Michael Rogers (Australia), the three-times winner looking for success after his season was wrecked by injury in the Tour De France.

Men's Elite Road Race: There is one nation which can dictate the race: Italy. After years of in-fighting and professional rivalry, manager Franco Ballerini has managed to get his Azzurri to race for national pride and - officially - in defence of reigning champion Paolo Bettini, who is well-suited to the hilly course.

But persuading the rest of the team (Fillipo Pozzato, Danilo Di Luca, Alessandro Ballan and Davide Rebellin) to sacrifice their chances of victory is going to be a tall order.

The British hopes will probably rest on David Millar, who is riding like a man reborn this season. Although not a known climber, Millar has the power and class to be up with the race if he maintains his self-belief over the hills.

He will be supported by the experienced Roger Hammond who will also be guiding the rookie Mark Cavendish through his first elite Worlds and, if it comes down to a bunch sprint finish, hopefully leading out the young Manxman for what would be a stunning victory.

Women's Time Trial: There is excitement about the chances of Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel, but she will find herself up against a start list which includes such greats as Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (France) and Judith Arndt (Germany), as well as defending champion Kristin Armstrong (USA).

Women's Elite Road Race: The race will be as notable for the absence of Nicole Cooke as for those present. The British Champion is out with a knee injury which put paid to her World Cup campaign.

However, this could add spice to a race that in previous years has seen the opposition focused on isolating Cooke. The favourites such as Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Karen Thurig (Switzerland) and Judith Arndt (Germany) will have to race each other rather than working together to fend off Cooke's challenge.

Men's Under-23 Time Trial: Hot favourite will be the Russian Mikhail Ignatiev who has had an excellent season with the Tinkoff Credit Systems team and could potentially claim his second rainbow jersey in the event.

Ian Stannard, the only British entrant, is one of the crop of riders produced by the British Cycling academy system and has been tipped to join the long line of time trial specialists for which the British have a strong reputation.

Under-23 Men's Road Race: British hopes lie with lone-gun Ben Swift, who comes into the race off the back of a successful Tour of Britain which saw him claim the King of the Mountains jersey. The Stuttgart course is a hilly one, which may suit him well.

The Under-23s race gives a good indication of the emerging powers in world cycling, and several of them are from the former Soviet Bloc. The Russian team features riders who've been mixing it in senior events this year, such as Ivan Rovny, Mikhail Ignatiev and Nikolai Trusov.

But unless you are a hardcore cycling fan, you'd be hard pushed to find too many recognisable names. However, you can be sure that you will know some of them within a few years. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway), for example, is being tipped to win and to continue building his reputation in the peleton.

Source: BBC Sport