Track, BMX, road, mountain biking all in the mix at cycling’s world championships

GLASGOW: Remco Evenepoel is among the stars assembling for the world cycling championships in Scotland with 13 disciplines including road races, BMX, mountain biking and track racing on the menu from Thursday.

Over 200 of the eye-catching rainbow jerseys will be handed out over the 11 days of action to the various world champions.

The men’s world road race champion Evenepoel arrives in good shape after landing his third San Sebastian classic.

“It’s super-good for the head and for the motivation to start the second part of the season and to go to Glasgow next week,” he said after Saturday’s win.

The 23-year-old Belgian is unlikely to have to contend with swooping parrots in Scotland as he did at the 2022 championships in Wollongong. He forms part of a powerful Belgian team aided by Wout Van Aert.

Van Aert was last in action as ‘sherpa’ to Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard but left the race in the final week to attend the birth of his second child.

The epic 271km course from Edinburgh to Glasgow will weed out any bluffers and Evenepoel’s endurance will lend him an edge.

Another to consider is Mathieu van der Poel, who is targeting the men’s road race before switching to cyclo-cross.

Vingegaard himself is absent having chosen to race the Vuelta a Espana in late August, but Denmark can call upon 2019 champion Mads Pedersen, who won in a deluge in Yorkshire.

France’s Julian Alaphilippe, who won the 2020 and 2021 titles, is also there but somewhat struggling for form since a bad fall a year ago.

The elite women’s road race takes top billing on the closing day on Sunday week with 40-year-old Annemiek van Vleuten ending her career in the 154km race from the banks of Loch Lomond into downtown Glasgow.

Standing in