Alex Dowsett
Alex Dowsett will start the road race for England having become Commonwealth time trial champion on Thursday with a stunning ride to beat Rohan Dennis (Australia) and Geraint Thomas (Wales) to gold.
The Movistar man has been named in the England line-up alongside Ian Stannard, Tom Moses, Scott Thwaites, Russ Downing and Paul Oldham.
Unlike the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales, the English team is without a clear leader, though Dowsett and Stannard are, on paper, most likely to contest for medals, while the course also suits the strengths of Thwaites, who narrowly missed out on a place in NetApp-Endura’s Tour de France squad.
How Dowsett’s form and focus is after Thursday’s TT triumph is to be seen, and while Stannard finished second on the Glasgow circuit behind Mark Cavendish at last year’s nationals, the Team Sky man is very unlikely to challenge this time out given this will be his first race since sustaining a serious back injury at Gent-Wevelgem all the way back in March.
