USA Cycling has announced the field for the shortened UCI Road World Championships, which will be held in the Imola and Emilia Romagna regions of Italy from September 24-27. As expected, time trial world champion Chloe Dygert will lead the women's team, but there are no notable riders on the men's side.

In the individual time trial, Dygert will defend her title for the U.S. along with Amber Neben (Kogeas Mettler) and Leah Thomas (Ekip Pole Ka), who finished on the podium in Strade Bianche.

The elite women's road race will include Colin Rivera (Sunweb), Ruth Winder and Taylor Wiles (Trek-Segafredo), and Lauren Stevens (TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank). The only other person not in the race is Katie Hall (Boels Dolmans), who has not raced since February. [Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling) has been selected for the individual time trial along with Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and will be joined by Chad Haga (Sunweb), winner of the final time trial of the 2019 Giro d'Italia, and two-time national champion and Joey Roskov (CCC Team), runner-up in the 2018 Vuelta a España time trial, were absent.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) and Nielson Powles (EF Pro Cycling) will compete in the men's road race along with Craddock and McNulty, who just finished the Tour de France, while Brent Bookwalter, who finished seventh in the Strade Bianche ( Mitchelton Scott) missed selection, as did 2019 road and time trial national champions Alex Howes (EF Pro Cycling) and Ian Garrison (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

USA Cycling only had four slots available for the men's road race, as riders competing in the individual time trial are automatically part of the road race team.

Jim Miller, USA Cycling's chief of sports performance, who has returned to the USA Cycling federation after several years away, calls the team "highly focused" and expects it to be competitive.

"This has been a year of resilience and adaptability for the team. Everyone had good days and bad days, motivated or not. Despite the challenges we all faced, we are a highly focused team and I expect us to be a team that can compete with the best teams in the world," Miller said.

The teams, especially the women, were selected without the usual race calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic. Craddock has only raced the Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo for 12 days since racing resumed. McNulty will race the Tour de Pollogne and Tour du Limousin, and will race Tirreno-Adriatico before the World Championships.

Dygert has not raced since the spring track world championships, and Neben's last race was last year's road world championships. The elite women have experienced only a handful of one-day races since the race hiatus, but Jeff Pierce, USA Cycling's elite track and field director for road and track, is confident in the selection.

"We have a limited number of races this year, but we still saw a lot of outstanding results. With the success of last year's World Championships, plus the recent success of our athletes, we are in a good position to win medals," Pierce said.

USA Cycling revised its selection criteria in light of the pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, and according to the announced selection criteria, "Selections that increase or protect the team's chances of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics," or "strong odds of producing a World Championship medal," or "team goals to support" or "selection that is important to support" or "selection that is consistent with USAC's organizational goals.

With the UCI cancelling races in the junior and U23 categories, Megan Jastrab (Rally Cycling) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) will be out of the junior ranks by 2021, but will retain their titles through next year's championships.

Time trial

Chloe Dygert (Twenty20), Amber Neben (Cogeas-Mettler Cycling Team), Leah Thomas (Équipe Paule Ka)

Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates)

Road Race:

Chloe Dygert (Twenty20), Amber Neben (Cogeas-Mettler Cycling Team), Leah Thomas (Équipe Paule Ka) Colin Rivera (Sunweb), Lauren Stevens (TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank), Ruth Winder, Taylor Wiles (Trek Segafredo).

Lawson Craddock and Neilson Powles (EF Pro Cycling), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Sepp Kus (Jumbo-Visma)