Mathieu van der Poel shares his view on some of the favourites for Sunday road race: "Evenepoel can ride away on all parts of this course"

Mathieu van der Poel, as is already becoming a tradition, is once again one of the hot favourites to claim the rainbow jersey on punchy course in Glasgow. To Dutchman's advantage, he has experience with Scottish roads from European Championship 2018, where he came second behind Matteo Trentin.

Van der Poel is ready for the upcoming World Championships, but does not feel as fresh as for the classics. "It's new for me to keep training after a grand tour," he told WielerFlits. Van der Poel also spoke extensively about one of the top favorites, Remco Evenepoel.

"It seems as if there are now even more corners than at the European Championship. It really is racing from corner to corner," says Van der Poel after the route. "I expect a similar scenario to that of the European Championship in 2018. A big war of attrition all day long and the door that is constantly open at the back. The climbs are not very long, but due to the accumulation of them, they are long enough to make a difference. But it can also be done in other places. On the intermediate parts, for example, it also happened there at the European Championships."

Van der Poel sees a rider who is very dangerous on those parts: "Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel may indeed have a slightly less advantage on these short climbs, but those two are two of the best riders in the world. They can anyway. And Evenpoel can ride away on all parts of this course. Perhaps he is even more dangerous on the intermediate sections than on the climbs. Everyone also knows that once he's gone, it's hard to get him back."