Which riders to look out for as Commonwealth Games cycling road race comes to Warwick this Sunday
By James Smith
2nd Aug 2022 | Cycling
Riders from nearly 40 different nations will come to Warwick on Sunday (August 7) for the Commonwealth Games cycling road race.
They will complete a number of laps of a 16km circuit from St Nicholas Park, out to Budbrooke and round to the edge of Leamington Spa.
And the start list is peppered with world and national champions as well as a Tour de France champion.
Fresh from his exploits at the Birmingham 2022 time trial in Wolverhampton on Thursday (August 4) 2018 Tour Geraint Thomas will come to Warwickshire on Sunday hoping to claim his second Commonwealth gold medal, having finished first in Glasgow in 2014.
He will be supported by veterans Luke Rowe and Owain Doull.
Thomas is the only former winner in this weekend's line-up, and is the only rider from outside New Zealand and Australia to have claimed gold in the last 36 years.
That bodes well for Australia's Caleb Ewan, who comes with strong back up in the form of Rohan Dennis, having competed at the Tour de France this July.
Whilst a crash involving his whole Lotto-Soudal team on stage 13 of the grand tour hindered him from claiming any stage wins, he will still be one of the favourites for the podium on Sunday.
And New Zealand's Jack Bauer who claimed silver in 2014 will be looking to go one better eight years on.
But should the 160km race finish in a sprint, former world champion and joint Tour de France stage wins record holder Mark Cavendish will be tough to beat.
The Manxman, who has returned to the upper levels of professional cycling in the last 18 months, will be looking to claim one of the few accolades not already in his palmarès.
Meanwhile Team England will have 22-year-old local lad Jake Stewart as well as Fred Wright and Connor Swift to call on.
The day will be started though, with the morning's women's race.
Grace Brown will be looking to help Australia to a second consecutive clean sweep of gold medals as will teammate Alexandra Manly.
And Georgia Williams from New Zealand will be hoping to improve on her silver medal at Gold Coast four years ago.
For England former national time trial and road race champion Alice Barns will be supported by Abi Smith.
Meanwhile South Africa's Ashleigh Moolman could find herself on the top of the podium.
Full details of road closures for Sunday can be found here.
(Header image by Konstantin Kleine via wikimedia commons)
(Caleb Ewan image by Filip Bossuy via wikimedia.commons)
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