Samu set for Worlds - almost

Spanish national team coach José Luis De Santos today revealed his nine chosen ones for the upcoming Limburg Road World Championships, and Euskaltel captain Samuel Sánchez, currently racing in the Tour of Britain, is one of them.

Samu is set to feature in the road race alongside former team-mate Jonathan Castroviejo, Alberto Contador, Joaquím Rodríguez, Alejandro Valverde, Óscar Freire, Dani Moreno, Juan Antonio Flecha and Pablo Lastras, in what is likely to be one of the strongest national teams ever to represent Spain at a worlds. Seeing as Samu has only just returned to racing from injuries sustained at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, he's still not 100 percent sure to be on the plane to the Netherlands.

"He's an important rider for us, but we'll have to see how he recovers from his injuries. We'll see how he gets through the race (Tour of Britain), and then we'll have a talk. I know he'll be the first to say so if he's not in the shape to be there, as he did prior to the Olympics", said De Santos.

The Spanish Cycling Federation's website states that team-mate Egoi Martínez will replace Samu if he deems himself unfit to be worthy of a place in the selección.

As for the racing in Britain, Samu and co. got through day three without any major hiccups. Pablo Urtasun lost his mountains jersey to Kristian House, but more importantly everyone got through safe and sound without ceding any time.

Results stage three (full results here):

• (1, Mark Cavendish (Sky), 3:54:30)
• 22, Pierre Cazaux, s.t.
• 38, Ricardo García, s.t.
• 40, Samuel Sánchez, s.t.
• 43, Adrián Sáez, s.t.
• 48, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.

General classification:

• (1, Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge), 13:16:28)
• 44, Samuel Sánchez, 1:51
• 50, Pierre Cazaux, 1:53
• 56, Adrián Sáez, 2:00
• 83, Ricardo García, 9:02
• 90, Pablo Urtasun, 10:22