The route

Cobbles and climbs – this is a Classic route in all senses of the word and should produce an exciting race.

The route is one of two parts, rolling out from Copacabana beach before heading to the first of the two circuits on the route at the Grumari National Park.

Featuring a 2km stretch of cobbles and two climbs – the Grumari (1.2km at seven per cent) and Grota Funda (2.1km at 4.5 per cent) – the first circuit is tackled four times in all.

Alongside the cobbles on the run-in to the Grumari climb, the tree-lined ascent itself is narrow and comes with a maximum gradient of 13 per cent at its steepest.

After those four circuits, the race then heads back towards the city for another hilly circuit, this time centred on the Vista Chinesa climb.

It’s a thigh-numbing climb of two distinct parts – up to Canoas, where the gradient hovers towards the double-figure mark and then, after a short descent, up to the Vista Chinesa.

The average gradient for the whole 8.5km climb is 5.7 per cent, but that is masked by the short descent. It’s tackled three times in all, before a technical descent down the other side, and is likely to be where the race is won or list.

The final climb peaks at 224.2km into the 241.5km race, meaning the descent and flat ride back to the Copacabana beach will be as important as the climb in deciding who stands atop the final podium.

Alejandro Valverde (Spain)

World number one for the last two years, Alejandro Valverde is a man for all seasons and has proved as much again this year with successes across the board.

Victory at La Fleche Wallonne was his third in a row and seventh Ardennes Classics win in all, while a stage win and third-place finish at the Giro d’Italia completed Valverde’s Grand Tour collection of stage victories and podium finishes at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta.

Any suggestion that Valverde’s efforts in finishing sixth at the Tour de France, and helping Nairo Quintana to the podium, would hamper his Olympics bid was shot down with third place at the Clasica San Sebastian last weekend, too.

Valverde can climb with the best, he can descend well and he has a fast finish too. He also comes as part of a very strong Spanish team but looks the best shot at a gold medal of the quintet.

Movistar team-mate Ion Izagirre rides on the back of his Tour de France stage 20 victory, and Joaquim Rodriguez can never be discounted in his final season but Purito would be better served riding for Valverde given the fast, flat 20km finish.

Spain team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Alejandro Valverde, Imanol Erviti, Ion Izagirre, Jonathan Castroviejo (all Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)

Rui Costa (Portugal)

One of three former world champions on the start line, Rui Costa has found victories hard to come by since he won the rainbow jersey in Florence in 2013, but that win alone is proof of what he can do a course like this. Costa caught Joaquim Rodriguez on the run-in to the finish, having crested the final climb with the race favourites, to claim victory.

Costa’s Classics results since prove he is a contender in other one-day races too, but with no victories to his name so far in 2016 it will take a big step up in Rio.

Nevertheless, having been active towards the end of the Tour de France, getting himself up the road and in several breaks, Costa has clearly been building his legs for this race.

Portugal have four options for the men’s road race, but Costa has been there done that with his worlds win and is more than capable of repeating it.

Portugal team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Jose Mendes (Bora-Argon 18), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Andre Cardoso (Cannondale-Drapac)

Daniel Martin (Ireland)

Ireland have just two riders going to Rio, but in cousins Daniel Martin and national champion Nicolas Roche it’s not a bad two options to have.

Martin earned his first Tour de France top-ten finish last month, eventually claiming ninth place overall, and has already proved his one-day racing calibre.

Victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013 and Il Lombardia in 2014 have given him two Monument wins for his palmares already.

Controlling a race like the Olympic road race is going to be difficult, even for the teams with five riders, so the key to success for Martin will be sticking at the front of the race and following the right moves.

He did just that through most of the Tour de France, when he was often without any Etixx-QuickStep team-mates in the mountains, so if he has kept that form he is definitely one to watch.

Ireland team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Nicolas Roche (Team Sky)

Chris Froome/Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)

Tour de France champion Chris Froome may not have won a one-day race before, but the aggressive intent he showed on his way to a third yellow jersey gave an indication of what could be in Rio.

Both he and Geraint Thomas are expected to share the Great Britain leadership in Rio, with Froome also bidding for a medal in the individual time trial.

The Kenyan-born Brit is clearly a man in form after his exploits at the Tour de France, should he end up being the chosen leader as part of what is a strong GB team across the board.

Commonwealth Games champion and perennial Classic contender Thomas’ one-day calibre is much more obvious, however, and the Welshman tested his legs with a gutsy solo breakaway at RideLondon which came up just a few kilometres short.

And team-mate Steve Cummings is another who should not be written off. We’d have listed him as a contender were we confident Great Britain wouldn’t try and control the race but ride it aggressively instead.

Give Cummings free reign, and his Tour de France stage victory is just the latest evidence of what can be achieved. Shackle him, and Froome or more likely Thomas will be the men to watch instead.

And what of Adam Yates? The 23-year-old showed the world just what he is capable of by finishing fourth and taking the white jersey at the Tour, while he already has one-day success to his name haven won the Clasica de San Sebastian in 2015.

It’s an exciting Great Britain team with a number of cards to play.

Great Britain team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard (all Team Sky), Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange), Steve Cummings (Dimension Data)

Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski may have only just turned 26, but already he has been crowned world champion in 2014, won the Amstel Gold Race in the rainbow jersey in 2015 and bagged his first – and to date – only Team Sky win at this year’s E3 Harelbeke.

In short, this is a man who knows how to win a one-day race but his Rio 2016 hopes are hampered by just one problem – he is quite out of form.

Illness cut short his Criterium du Dauphine, where he was riding for Chris Froome, and since then he has finished a lowly 25^th at the Polish national road race, fallen out of contention for a podium spot on the rain-battered, climb-heavy Wieliczka to Zakopane stage at the Tour of Poland and finished 107^th at the Clasica San Sebastian.

If he is to compete for a medal at Rio 2016, Kwiatkowski is going to have to dig deep to rediscover the sort of form everyone knows he is capable of producing.

If not, Tour de France King of the Mountains Rafal Majka looks the more likely man to lead Poland’s charge for a medal.

Poland team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Michal Kwiatkowski, Michal Golas (both Team Sky), Rafal Majka, Maciej Bodnar (both Tinkoff)

Greg van Avermaet (Belgium)

Greg van Avermaet may not have the Classics pedigree of Belgian team-mate Philippe Gilbert, or the climbing ability of Serge Pauwels – who was second at the Rio test event – but the BMC Racing man should not be written off.

Victories at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Tirreno-Adriatico showed his form at the start of the year, before he recovered from crashing out of the Tour de Flanders with a Tour de France stage win.

That victory, followed by a day in the break in the mountains two days later, earned him three days in the yellow jersey in all.

Belgium have several options for the race, but Van Avermaet has proved he is capable of being one of them with his canny riding and ability to follow the right moves, as long as he can survive in the hills

And if not, one thing you can guarantee from the Belgians is an attack from Tim Wellens – the Lotto-Soudal man knows no other way of racing and it’s only a matter of time before one sticks in one of the biggest races.

Belgium team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Greg van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert (both BMC Racing), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Laurens de Plus (Etixx-QuickStep)

Romain Bardet (France)

Perhaps surprisingly, only two French riders have won gold medals in the men’s Olympic road race – and none since the London Games in 1948.

But they take a strong four-man line-up to Rio 2016, with some of the brightest talents in French cycling set to pull on the national jersey.

Alexis Vuillermoz won the Rio test event in 2015, with Ag2r-La Mondiale team-mate Romain Bardet third – and the latter races at Rio on the back of his Tour de France stage win and second place overall.

Bardet’s climbing and descending ability should see him among the contenders, especially if he can continue where he left off at the Tour.

Big things are expected of Julian Alaphilippe and Warren Barguil in future too, and both will do their burgeoning reputations no harm with a big result in Rio.

France team for Rio 2016 men’s road race: Romain Bardet, Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin)