"Everyone knows who the favourite is but at the same time there are so many unknowns at the Worlds" - Derek Gee hopeful Canada can spring a surprise in Zurich

Next Sunday in Zurich, the men's elite road race at the 2024 World Championships takes place. Tadej Pogacar might start as favourite with competition from the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel, but plenty of nations have hope of springing a surprise. One of them, is Canada.

"There’s no hiding, so this is the kind of course where the strongest guy has a really good shot," previews Derek Gee in conversation with Cycling News. "I think everyone knows who the favourite is and how he likely wants it to play out, but at the same time there are so many unknowns at the Worlds when it’s not your trade team. Teams are a lot more likely to throw something at the wall and see what sticks, especially when there’s a rainbow jersey on the line, so I imagine there’ll be some pretty unorthodox racing."

With Gee joined by compatriots Michael Woods, Guillaume Boivin and Pier-André Côté, the Canadians take to the start line full of optimism. "We’re all in for Mike and he’s on great form right now. He’s coming off winning a Vuelta stage and he’s super motivated," Gee explains. "He’s medalled at the World Championships before and on a really hard course too, so hopefully that bodes well for the weekend."

"It’s hard to compare it to anything I can think of – maybe the GP Montréal, because it’s got a similar amount of elevation, but there are some really hard and steep climbs here," the Israel - Premier Tech rider concludes. "I think it’s going to be a real slow burn. There’s nowhere to rest. You can try to save your team, but guys will start going out the back every lap well before it kicks off, because it’s such a long race and there’s nowhere really to take advantage of sitting in. Even the descent is pretty technical, especially with the peloton stringing out so. I think it’s just going to be really, really attritional and, well, daunting."