Lizzie Deignan and Chris Froome spearhead Great Britain challenge at UCI Road World Championships

British Cycling has confirmed that Tour de France and Vuelta winner Chris Froome will ride the time trial at the UCI World Championships in Bergen, Norway, while  Lizzie Deignan will seek to reclaim the rainbow jersey in the road race after recovering from an operatioon to remove her appendix.

Neither Mark Cavendish nor Geraint Thomas, both of whom returned from injuries at the Tour de France to race in  last week's Tour of Britain, feature in the squad for the men's road race as they continue their recovery.

Froome also skips that event to focus on the time trial,  a discipline in which he won bronze medals at the Olympic Games in London 2012 and at Rio last year. He will be joined by reigning British national time trial champion, Steve Cummings.

Cummings also won the national jersey in the road race on the Isle of Man this June but like Froome, gives that event a miss. Instead, Great Britain's challenge inthe men's race will comprise a trio of former national champions - Peter Kennaugh, Adam Blythe and Ian Stannard - plus Owain Doull, Mark Christian, Jon Dibben, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ben Swift and Scott Thwaites.

In the women's race, 2015 champion Deignan, who won the rainbow jersey in Richmond, Virginia, will be supported by Alice and Hannah Barnes, Elinor Barker, Dani King, Mel Lowther and Hayley Simmonds complete the team.

Hannah Barnes and Elinor Barker will represent the country in the elite women’s time trial.

British Cycling’s head coach Iain Dyer commented: “Selection for this year’s road world championships was a difficult one due to the depth of talent we have in Great Britain across the board, which is a good position to be in.

“I’m delighted to see Chris Froome wishing to finish his season in Great Britain Cycling Team colours after another fantastic year for him and I’m looking forward to seeing him in action on a course which suits his strengths.

"Equally, I’m pleased to see Lizzie selected for the women’s road race following her recent illness. Lizzie will be supported by a full strength women’s team which is testament to how much women’s cycling is growing in this country in general but also the investment we have made in developing our best female road riders.

“The junior squads are looking strong and we’ve seen some great results from individuals named within the teams this year,"he continued. "It would be great to see this reflected in the results at the world championships, but what’s important for me is they make the most of the opportunity of being in the same team as the professional road riders and benefit from this experience as part of their long-term development.

“There are some notable omissions from the squad, such as Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas plus Jacob Hennessy from the under-23 squad which is unfortunate but understandable," he added.

"We are coming to the end of a long season for the road riders and injury and illness becomes inevitable so their decisions to withdraw themselves from selection are respected.

“I believe we are taking a talented squad of riders to this year’s world championships with some very real chances of success in each of the squads and I look forward to the racing in Bergen.”

The 2017 UCI Road World Championships take place from Saturday 16 to Sunday 23 September and you can find the full programme on  the event website.