Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos) has opted to sit out the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. The 2014 world champion was not selected for Poland's elite six-man road racing team and the 29-year-old said he needed to step away from racing.

The Polish Cycling Federation announced the composition of the national team on Monday night, with Rafał Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) among the favorites to lead the men's and women's teams.

Majka, the country's best Grand Tour rider, fresh off a sixth-place finish at the Vuelta a España, was selected along with Bora-Hansgrohe teammates Maciej Bodnar and Paweł Poljanski. Michał Gowasz (Team Ineos), Ukasz Wisinowski, and Ukasz Ousian (CCC Team) were named to the men's team.

Kwiatkowski was the most notable absentee. The hilly Yorkshire course seems to favor classics specialists, punchers who can mount a timely attack or win a sprint from the pack after 250 km of racing.

However, Kwiatkowski has struggled in recent months, first dropping off in the Tour de France and then in recent weeks in the Deutschland Tour and Canadian one-day races, the Grand Prix de Quebec and Montreal.

"I have nothing but respect for these colors and the Polish eagle on the jersey.

"After the Tour de France, I said my body was screaming for a break. Since then, I haven't chased results. I really needed this. I'll keep praying for the Polish team."

Meanwhile, Majka is already planning to continue his long season.

The 30-year-old, who finished sixth in Sunday's Vuelta a España, has already raced for 73 days after finishing sixth in the Giro d'Italia earlier this year. The Yorkshire course is not suitable for a Grand Tour climber, but with Kwiatkowski out of the picture, national team sport director Piotr Wadecki seems to have no other choice but him.

The 60kg climber only runs the occasional one-day race and does not like the fall weather, but he has placed 3rd and 7th in Il Lombardia (2013 and 2018) and 10th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2013), not to mention the Olympic bronze medal at Rio 2016 ( 2017).

Bodnar and Kamil Gradec (CCC Team) will be the first elite male athletes to showcase their national colors, as they will be competing in the 54km individual time trial. The Bora-Hansgrohe powerhouse has only raced 57 days this year and has not competed in a Grand Tour as a result of focusing solely on the Yorkshire course.

Poland will be looking for results in the elite women's road race, where Niwiy Adoma and Małgorzata Jasinska (Movistar) are expected to share the leadership. Niewiadoma, winner of the Amstel Gold Race, will be looking for a chance on the hilly Yorkshire course, while Jasinska is preparing for an aggressive race where she finished fifth last year.

Nieviadma has consistently been among the best riders in spring classics and stage races, and this season she won the Amstel Gold Race and a stage in the OVO Energy Women's Tour. She finished sixth in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Liège-Bastogne-Liège women, La Flèche Wallonne women, and Tour of Flanders, and third in the Strade Bianche.

Later in the season, she finished second in the Women's Tour, fifth in the Giro Rosa and Women's Tour of California, and fourth in the Ladies Tour of Norway. Harrogate's punchy climbs should suit her aggressive racing style, but with the Dutch team dominating the rainbow race, she will have Jasinska, Trek-Segafredo's Anna Prihita, and CCC-Liv's Marta Lach to handle tactical maneuvers and cover moves would be.

Prihita will also be competing in the elite women's time trial and will be looking for a top-10 finish after a strong fifth place in the 9km race at the Madrid Challenge.

Elite Men: Rafał Majka, Macei Bodnar, Paveł Poljanski, Michał Gowasz, Ukasz Wisinowski, Ukasz Owusian (road race); Kamil Gladek, Macei Bodnar (time trial)

Elite Women: Katarzyna Nieviadma, Małgorzata Jasinska, Anna Prihita, Marta Laja, Agnieszka Skarniak, Aurela Nerlo, Katarzyna Wilkos (road race); Anna Prihita (time trial)

U-23 men: Filip Maciejuk, Szymon Sajnok, Stanisław Aniołkowski, Artur Sowiński, Szymon Krawczyk (road race); Szymon Tracz, Filip Maciejuk (time trial)

Junior Men: Junior Women: Natalia Krzeslak, Dominika Vłodarczyk, Nikola Wielowska, Carolina Stempier (road race); Julia Kowalska, Natalia Krzeslak (time trial)