"The shape is obviously okay" - Mattia Cattaneo heads to World Championships full of confidence after time-trial success at the Tour de Pologne

Mattia Cattaneo was a relatively comfortable winner of the stage 6 individual time-trial at the Tour de Pologne. With the Glasgow World Championships now just days away, does the Italian now consider himself one of the favourites?

“Favorite, huh? There are other favourites,” he tells Wielerflits in a post-stage interview with a smile. "But for me it will be a great experience. I'm going to do my best. The shape is obviously okay, so I'm going to try and do my best."

Finishing ahead of Joao Almeida and Geraint Thomas on the stage, Cattaneo believes his biggest challenge for the Rainbow Jersey could be a fellow Italian.

"I think Ganna, Foss, Pogacar and many other riders should be counted among the favourites. Top ten would be a very good result for me. We can start with this goal and then we will see what will happen,” he explains. “I have been working on my time trial for three years now. The team has confidence in me in this discipline. I am very happy with this result. I will continue to focus on this speciality.”