The road race is expected to provide a stunning backdrop on the climber friendly course ©Getty Images

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde and Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali will start among the favourites for the men’s Olympic road race in Rio de Janeiro on a course featuring several brutal climbing sections.

The 256 kilometres course, which starts and finishes in Copacabana, will the see peloton tackle the four laps of the Grumari circuit, featuring two climbs, the Grumari and Grota Funda.

After completing the loops they will then ride three laps of the Vista Chinesa loop, which features an 8.9km uphill followed by a technical descent of six kilometres.

With the course suiting the talents of climbers, reigning world champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia and Britain’s Mark Cavendish have opted to compete in mountain biking and the omnium respectively.

As the general classification riders at Grand Tours likely to feature at the head of the race, Britain’s Chris Froome will be centre of attention in the field, fresh from the back of his third triumph at the Tour de France.

The British team will have the benefit of having five starters, after they finished among the top five ranked nations of the International Cycling Union (UCI) 2015 WorldTour season, with Belgium, Italy, Colombia and Spain also beginning with the maximum size team.

Both Colombia and Spain will begin without Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador respectively after illness and injury.

Spain, however, boast the current favourite in Valverde, the 36-year-old having enjoyed consistent success in one-day races, including finish on the podium at the World Championships on six occasions.

France triumphed at the test event and will be hoping for further success tomorrow ©Getty Images
France triumphed at the test event and will be hoping for further success tomorrow ©Getty Images

Giro d’Italia winner Nibali has also been tipped as a contender, with the Italian having honed his preparations for the Olympics during the Tour de France.

The Dutch challenge is expected to be led by Bauke Mollema and Woet Poels, with the former having triumphed at the Clasica San Sebastian last weekend.

France, who had Alexis Vuillermoz and Romain Bardet finish first and second at the test event, could opt to focus their efforts on Julian Alaphilippe, while Portugal will hope Rui Costa can repeat his gold medal win from the 2013 World Championships.

Ireland’s Dan Martin could prove another candidate for a podium finish, despite having only one team-mate, with a strong Tour de France behind him and previous victories in major one day races.