The Irish World Road Championships team may be down to three riders after the withdrawal of Dan Martin but the three who go to the line in Imola are set for battle and were due to begin their campaign today.
Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) had been down to join Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) and Ben Healy (Trinity Racing) at the Worlds.
However, Cycling Ireland told stickybottle Martin had withdrawn "due to team commitments".
"Dan completed the final stage of the three-week Tour de France on Sunday in which he was prominent in several breakaways. We wish Dan well for the remainder of the season," the national governing body said.
His withdrawal is perhaps no surprise as he has faced a challenging couple of months in which he fractured a bone in his back before winning a fitness battle to even start the Tour.
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However, he was clearly feeling the effects of that injury in the first half of the race and while he rode well as the event progressed, that injury will likely prolong the recovery time required after the three-week race.
Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) had also been due to ride the Worlds, on a road race course that would have really suited him, but fractured his collarbone on a stage 4 crash at the recent Tirreno-Adriatico.
Despite the absence of Martin and Dunbar the Irish team is still an interesting one; Roche the seasoned campaigner, Mullen coming into what should be his prime years and Healy starting out on his journey at this level.
Roche and Mullen will be first in action when they take on the TT today; a course suited to powerful riders. The 31.7km out and back course is one that both Irish riders could do well on.
Roche confirmed as much when he told stickybottle that both he and Mullen liked the look of the route when they checked it out yesterday.
The first rider was due off today at 1.30pm with Roche, 12th in 2017, set to get his effort underway at 1:42pm and Mullen set to roll out at 2:27pm.
Roche has obviously just come out of the Tour de France, where he rode very strongly in breakaways, but will be unsure of his level until the race gets underway as the recovery widow has been very short.
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"I hope I've recovered," he said of coming out of the Tour on Sunday and taking on the Worlds TT just four days later.
"I've been optimising recovery training every day with a few small short efforts, but nothing long. I think it's important to go in fresh after a hard Tour."
While Mullen didn't ride the Tour, he too has been busy of late; claiming 8th in the Europeans TT last month before riding the five-stage Tour de Hongrie, the one-day, Antwerp Port Epic and five-stage Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg, all of which was packed into the same three-week period the Tour was on.
Mullen, still only 26 years old, has been top 10 in the TT at the Worlds as a junior, U23 and elite rider. He was famously beaten to gold in the U23 race by less than a second in 2014 in Ponferrada and two years later was 5th in the elite TT in Doha.
Today a top 10 ride by him would be a fantastic result but many, in what is a stacked field, will be aiming for the same or better.
The top contenders include defending champion Rohan Dennis along with the Belgian duo of Wout van Aert and Victor Campenaerts.
Danes Kasper Asgreen and three-time world U23 TT champion Mikkel Bjerg, maybe set for a big performance, will both give good accounts of themselves.
British riders Geraint Thomas and Alex Dowsett can also impress; Thomas in particular with a point to prove after his Tour omission and making his debut appearance at this event.
French champion Rémi Cavagna will also fancy his chances as will Italian champion Filippo Ganna, former world champion Tom Dumoulin, Kiwi champion Patrick Bevin and Swiss champion Stefan Küng.
After today's test, Roche and Mullen will go again for Ireland on Sunday in the elite men's road race along with young Ben Healy.
Having just turned 20 years old earlier this month Healy would usually be lining out for the U23 road race, but that event - along with the junior racing - is cancelled as the championships have been slimmed down due to Covid-19.
Healy, who rides for Andrew McQuaid's Trinity Racing, won a stage of Tour de l'Avenir last year - the youngest rider to ever win on that race - and last week claimed a fantastic final stage win at Ronde de l’Isard.
The Irish riders will be really up against it in the road race with a three-man team on such a hilly course.
But in a difficult and unusual season, and representing a nation without the same depth to choose from, the Irish will look to survive at the front for as long as possible on Sunday.
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