The 2015 UCI Road World Championships are underway in Richmond, Virginia, are underway, with Velocio-SRAM and BMC Racing successfully defending their team time trial titles on the opening day.

Meanwhile, there was also British success with Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) and Alex Dowsett (Movistar) helping their teams to silver and bronze in their respective races.

The junior men and women, under-23 men and elite men and women will now compete in the individual time trials before the road races, with the elite women and then the men closing the week of racing.

A road race parcours featuring a number of short climbs – and some cobbled sections thrown in to boot –  means it’s likely to be a very open race with a number of possible contenders. That’s the beauty of the worlds road race – it’s a one-off event where trade team loyalties are (normally) exchanged for national pride in an exciting and unpredictable race. We’ve already taken a look at who could triumph in Richmond, now it’s time to look back on some rainbow jersey winners from years gone by.

Having first been raced in 1927, and with the 2015 race set to be the 82nd running of the men’s world road race, there have been plenty of classic moments over the years, but we’ve narrowed it down to six over the following pages. Time to take a trip down memory lane…