• Road world championships

Froome happy to play understudy to Swift

Chris Froome, right, will ride in support of team-mate Ben Swift, left © Getty Images

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Britain is blessed with many talented cyclists, but the leadership of the squad for Sunday's men's road race at the Road World Championships in Spain falls to one of the less well known in Ben Swift.

Chris Froome, the 2013 Tour de France champion and twice runner-up at the Tour of Spain, will ride the 254.8-kilometre route - 14 laps of the 18.2km course - in the service of the 26-year-old from Rotherham.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, who added the time-trial world title to his glittering cycling CV, will not be riding, nor will 25-time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish.

"We're all getting behind Swifty," Froome said. "He's very much up for it and we've got quite a well-balanced team to help.

"It could go either way. It could come down to a selective bunch sprint or it could be one for a breakaway."

Cavendish was the second and most recent British winner of the road race title, taking the rainbow jersey in Copenhagen in 2011 to follow Tom Simpson's victory in 1965.

Swift is seeking to join an elite group, but faces numerous challengers.

Slovakia's Peter Sagan will be difficult to shake on a course which appears to suit his characteristics.

Germany's John Degenkolb showed at the Vuelta he can endure undulating terrain before triumphing in a sprint from a select bunch.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is a multiple world time-trial champion but opted to focus on the road race instead and has astonishing pedigree in the Spring Classics.

Britain's nine-man squad comprises Swift, Froome, Commonwealth Games champion Geraint Thomas, British champion Pete Kennaugh and David Millar, who will be racing for the final time in a Great Britain jersey before retiring at the end of the season.

Also in the squad are Steve Cummings, Luke Rowe and the Yates twins, Simon and Adam.

Britain has options depending on how the race develops, but after his gruelling Vuelta campaign, Froome is happy to work in the service of others.

Swift, a Team Sky rider since the team's inception in 2010, was third in the Milan-San Remo classic in March.

He was second on stage three of the Giro d'Italia to Dublin in May.

Winning in Ponferrada would surpass anything he has previously achieved, although Swift won the scratch race world title on the track in Melbourne in 2012 before missing out on selection for the London 2012 Olympics.

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