Reigning Olympic Champion Pascal Richard will sadly not be defending his title in Sydney (40kb)

Four years of waiting over, we will find out tonight who will succeed Linda McCartney's Pascal Richard as the Olympic Road Race Champion. The office of Olympic Champion is coveted by all, and the field that takes the line in Sydney will be one of the finest ever seen in the history of cycling.

The 156 competitors from all over the globe will contain three Linda McCartney stars in their number: Max Sciandri in the blue strip of Great Britain, Ciaran Power in Irish green, and Bjornar Vestol in the red jersey of Norway.

Max can truly be counted as one of the favourites for the event that took him to a bronze medal in Atlanta. He is in exceptional form, with a win in the Giro del Lazio on his last weekend in Europe before the longhaul 747 to Sydney. Principia have made him a special super-light black bike for the race - he rode it to victory in Lazio.

Ciaran has been building towards the Olympics to cap his emergence as the first significant Irish cyclist of the 21st century. He will be a dark horse if he manages to stay the gruelling 240kms to the death.

Bjornar will be looking to use his huge strength to drive a break and maybe surprise some of the established names. With a maximum of five men in a team, it is a tactic that could pay dividends: the favourites will not have armies of foot soldiers to chase moves down.

66 - Max Sciandri, Great Britain

71 - Ciaran Power, Ireland