Women’s road race (Saturday September 27 – 127.4km)

Can anybody stop Dutch wonder woman Marianne Vos?

The two-time defending champion will be bidding for a fourth career win in Ponferrada, with her mountain bike and cyclo-cross background marking her as a big favourite on the rolling parcours.

Vos has finished in the top two in every edition of the UCI Road World Championships since winning the rainbow jersey for the first time in 2006.

And she will lead the Dutch charge in good form, backed by a strong team which could also include women’s Tour of Flanders winner Ellen van Dijk.

Vos will face competition from long-standing rival Lizzie Armitstead (Great Britain) – the Commonwealth Games gold medallist having been in great form this season as she won the UCI Women’s Road World Cup.

The Yorkshire-woman’s support squad includes mountain bike ace Annie Last, with the British team clearly coming with a specific plan for the 127.4km course.

Sweden’s Emma Johansson – second last year and runner-up to Armistead in this year’s World Cup series – will be another contender, as will France’s La Fleche Wallonne Feminine winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Vos, however, remains the woman to beat with Armitstead – who proved the Dutchwoman can be stopped by bettering her at La Fleche – among the leading candidates to do just that.