The crown jewel of 2011 Cycling World Championships is the Elite Mens Road Race which takes place in Denmark on Sunday. Rudersdal, north of Copenhagen is the venue and it promises to be fast and furious. We take a look at the main contenders and of course, the betting.

What a fantastic 266km spectacle this promises to be. The bulk of the course comprises 17 laps around Rudersdal, each of 14 kms and although there are no really challenging climbs it's bumpy with an uphill stretch to the finish. The cycling forums' jury seems to suggests that the profile of the finish itself will not rule out an out an out sprinter but the question is whether the the top sprinters will still have the legs given the up and down nature of the circuit.

As the title of the race suggests, an “elite” field goes to the start so without further ado let's take a look at those most prominent on the bookmakers betting boards.

Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) - The number one rider in the current UCI rankings, the favourite and a worthy one at that. His bid for World Championship glory last year was reeled in by the chasing pack just under 2km's from home, by all accounts a headwind in Geelong, Australia where the event was staged made it nigh on impossible for Gilbert's attack to succeed. Gilbert was third in the points classification (Green Jersey) in the Tour de France where he took out the first stage, his only victory despite starting favourite for a number of other stages. He won the Liège–Bastogne–Liège one day classic this year and a whole host of competitive but less prestigious races and was also third in the Milan – San Remo. Belgium have by far the best record of any nation in this event and Gilbert is obviously a huge runner here.

Price: 4/1 Sportingbet, BetXchange

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) - A real talking horse after an impressive Vuelta although the doubters point to his lack of experience over a long distance. Up to 20^th in the world rankings after three stage wins in Spain's Grand Tour, he certainly falls into the strongman sprinter category. He won't benefit from the sort of quality in terms of team mates that some other leading contenders enjoy but he is worthy of consideration and there can be few doubts as to his form after what he achieved in Spain.

Price: 7/1 BetXchange

Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) - The Manx Missile acknowledged as the fastest man on two wheels and winner of this years Green Jersey at the Tour de France with five individual stage wins. Ranked 26^th in the world, Cav is an out and out sprinter, the best finisher in the business. He abandoned the recent Vuelta early doors rather than suffer in the stifling heat and is reportedly in very good shape. He also has the benefit of a eight strong GBR team to protect and possibly lead him out. The teams of his rivals will look to put the hammer down and drop Cav well before the finish so the strength of his team is a real bonus and his price has tumbled from double digits with European bookmakers in recent days

Price: 6/1 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting

Thor Hushovd (Norway) - Ranked 33^rd in the world, the reigning World Champion who won in 2010 coming out on top in an uphill sprint finish ahead of Matti Breschel of Denmark (who misses out this year through injury). An amazingly strong rider and an incredible man, Hushovd banked two stages of the Tour de France (the profile of which suggested he had no right to contest) and you discount him at your peril. Experience, stamina, speed but not the support of a strong team (in fact his compatriot is another of the leading contenders) but he will be roared on by a traveling army of Norwegians.

Price: 7/1 BetXchange, World Sports Betting

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) - Ranked tenth in the world and one of the darlings of the Goodforthegame forum after obliging at 16/1 in one of his two stage wins at the Tour de France this year. Ask our very own Brent Graham about EBH and he will tell you how Team Sky under-used him at times on Le Tour, riding for “designated” sprinter Ben Swift when he is clearly Green Jersey material himself. Second to Cavendish in a bunch sprint on the Champs Elysees without having anything like the lead out of Cav strengthens Brent's opinion. The concern is EBH has been pretty quiet since France although there were also doubts as to his well being before Le Tour where he was quite superb.

Price: 11/1 World Sports Betting

Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) - A superb rider of the one day classics, placing this year in Milan – San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris – Roubaix, “Spartacus” had to settle for bronze behind Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins in this weeks Mens Time Trial where a late mistake cost him a chance of silver. Ranked 11^th in the world he is likely to be hurting from losing his time trial crown. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him play a role late on but that time trial must really sap the energy and for me, it will take an amazing effort for Cancellara to figure at the death here.

Price: 18/1 Sportingbet, BetXchange

Other Riders to Note - even If the likes of Cavendish are dropped other sprinters who canpotentially take a hand and fight it out include André Greipel (who will have the German team riding for him), Tyler Farrar (USA) and Daniele Bennati (Italy). Oscar Freire (Spain) has won the world title three time before (1999, 2001, 2004) and with retirement beckoning, he is sure to give this all he has. In addition to those riders mentioned as ones to note (who are vailable at big prices), there are a number of opportunists such as Sylvain Chavanel who may well launch an attack some way out.

Note, prices are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change and not all bookmakers had priced up at the time of writing.

The Verdict

First up, I'm having a small poke at EBH in double digits which I believe to be reasonable value but the long and the short of it is that this requires careful thought and a meeting of minds from the Goodforthegame sports betting community so this dedicated thread on our discussion forum will be utilized to confirm more picks in the run up to start time on Sunday.

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