Defending Olympic champion Paolo Bettini, of Italy, Tour de France stage winner Alejandro Valverde, of Spain, and double Tour runner-up Cadel Evans, of Australia, are the leading contenders in an elite field in tomorrow’s opening event of the Beijing Games, the 245.4 kilometre men’s cycling road race.

On paper, the Olympic road race has a better field than this year’s Tour de France, with 2007 Tour and 2008 Giro d’Italia champion Alberto Contador riding for Spain, Levi Leipheimer representing the United States and reigning world champion Bettini, Italy’s leading light, also racing.

Other familiar racers such as Stefan Schumacher, of Germany, winner of two time trials in last month’s Tour, Frank and Andy Schleck, of Luxembourg, and Stuart O’Grady, of Australia, will compete.

Evans, who narrowly failed to secure his first Tour victory when a below-par performance in the final time trial enabled Carlos Sastre, of Spain, to cling onto his overall lead and secure victory in Paris, believes he has recovered from an injury sustained at a post Tour party.

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After training on the hilly finale to the Olympic course on Thursday, the Australian was cautiously optimistic. “The knee felt fine after four laps,” Evans said. “It’s going to be seven laps on Saturday so it could be another story.”

Evans is also thought unlikely to be unveiling any "Free Tibet" T-shirts, as worn at last month's Tour de France, during his stay in China. "My understanding is he's certainly said that he would respect those rules when he's in the venues and I hope that's the case," the president of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, said.

Bettini and Valverde, both powerful climbers with fast finishing sprints and proven winners of the toughest one-day races, will be well-suited to the demanding and hilly route from central Beijing to the Bedaling pass section of the Great Wall of China. The spectacular and gruelling 23.8 kilometre finishing circuit, ridden seven times and including a 338 metre height gain, seems certain to build to a brutal finale.

Great Britain’s four-man team is captained by veteran Roger Hammond, who finished a creditable seventh in Athens four years ago, and 27-year-old Steve Cummings, but the real interest lies in the performances of 19-year-old Jonathan Bellis, a bronze medallist in the under-23 world championships road race last autumn, and 20-year-old Ben Swift, a European team pursuit champion in 2007.

Bellis, who, like Mark Cavendish, hails from the Isle of Man, and Swift have been included in the road race team to gain experience for London 2012. “The younger guys are very ambitious,” Team GB performance director David Brailsford said. “They’ve got a different mentality than we’ve had in British Cycling before. They’re not scared of anything, which is great.”