Road race world champion Alejandro Valverde will lead his Spanish teammates on Sunday on the 284.5km course between Leeds and Harrogate. [Valverde told Spanish website AS.com on Friday that ahead of Sunday's world championship elite men's road race, "I am motivated and looking forward to defending my title.

Valverde added, "At the Vuelta a España, I finished second overall behind Primoz Roglic, who won the race. [However, he changed his mind that same day after seeing fellow climber Sergio Iguita of Colombia aggressively ride the road race course and finish fourth in the under-23 men's race.

"Let's see what happens," was his upgraded answer to the question of whether he still believed in his potential.

"I really don't like the weather forecast for Sunday," he added, "although I did well in the rain at the World Championship road races in Ponferrada (3rd in 2014) and Florence (3rd in 2013).

"You have to be on your toes all the time in bad weather, and despite all the crashes going on around you, you have to be eating all the time. Physically, I feel better than I did before the World Championships in Innsbruck last year, but the route and the expected weather is not perfect for me.

"But I think this race is more suited to the experienced riders that everyone is talking about than the younger generation that is emerging," Valverde continued. Aside from Mathieu van der Pol [of the Netherlands], he's very strong."

Valverde's main rivals, he said, are "the usual bunch": Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Philippe Gilbert, Greg Van Avermaet (both Belgian), Julien Alaphilippe (France), and Michael Matthews (Australia)."

Valverde also enjoyed a season in the rainbow jersey as road race world champion, but said that if he had to choose between another world title or a gold medal in the road race at the Tokyo Olympics next summer, he would choose the latter.

"An Olympic gold medal is one thing I don't have on me. And this could be the last major race of my career."

"But if I have to give the rainbow jersey to someone else, I will definitely come down swinging," Valverde said.