Apparently we have a final official start list for the time trial World Championships (Men's Elite division) happening on Thursday from 12:30-5pm Stuttgart time. Follow the link for the complete competitors' list, if you must, but the winner will probably come from one of the following teams:
- Australia: Bradley McGee, Cadel Evans, Michael Rogers, Adam Hansen... lotta palmares in this group. Too bad the race wasn't in June.
- Belgium: Philippe Gilbert... no Devolder! He must really be spent.
- Canada: Ryder Hesjedal... Canadians can dream too?
- Czech Republic: Frantisek Rabon...just a great name.
- Spain: Jose Ivan Gutierrez, Santos Gonzalez, Luis Leon Sanchez Gil... Gutierrez is on the short list of favorites.
- France: Dimitri Champion, Benoît Vaugrenard... Is the former's middle name "Monde"? Probably.
- UK: David Millar, Bradley Wiggins... Cycle Sport (hearts) UK chronomen XOXO!!
- Germany: Markus Fothen, Bert Grabsch, Jens! Voigt, Seb Lang...Deutschland uber alles?? Serious, serious quality on the home team. Grabsch could be the stunner.
- Hungary: Laszlo Bodrogi...seasoned vet.
- Iran: Seyed Mostafa Seyed Rezaei Khormizi... my upset special!
- Ireland: Nicholas Roche...do bloodlines count?
- Italia: Marzio Bruseghin, Manuel Quinziato, Vincenzo Nibali... Nibali would be the first Sicilian to win since Lucky Luciano's stunning and controversial upset at the Palermo worlds of 1946.
- Japan: Fumi Beppu... One last Discovery win!
- Kazakhstan: Dimitri Fofonov... will be dope-tested incessantly.
- Netherlands: Stef Clement... also on the short list, but not the top of it.
- Russia: Vlad Karpets, Vlad Gusev... Ordinarily I'd sing their praises, but I think these two are probably pretty tired by now.
- Switzerland: Tony Montana... became a champion, then rode like one. The overwhelming favorite until someone beats him.
- Sweden: Gustav Erik Larson, Thomas Lovkvist... It's a little soon, but keep these guys in mind.
- Ukraine: Andriy Grivko, Yaroslav Popovych... Er, are these guys ready? If so, look out.
- USA: Dave Zabriskie, Jason McCartney, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich... all fine gents, and Hincapie and McCartney are probably fresh enough. Dave Z sounded pretty burnt out in July. Julich is always competitive but hasn't won in a while.