Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar has said it ‘would be a fairytale’ for countryman Primoz Roglic to win the world road race title in Imola, Italy on Sunday.

Pogacar, who has turned 22 since winning the Tour, beat fellow Slovenian Roglic to the three-week stage race by 59 seconds after an epic final time trial saw him steal the yellow jersey on the penultimate day.

But now the duo, who are friends off the bike, will become teammates for Sunday’s World Championships.

And while it has not been publicly confirmed who is the team leader for Slovenia, Pogacar has insisted he would love Roglic to take the rainbow jersey.

“My head is all over the place this week. But I think I’m ready for a hard race on Sunday," he told Cycling News.

"I don’t think there will be any problems on Sunday. We are a good team, we understand each other. We work together well, so I think we will have a good Slovenian team on Sunday.

"I think this would be a fairytale (for Roglic to win) but there is a big competition on Sunday, it’s a bit different to the Tour de France. Like I said, before we have a strong team and we can try to compete for the rainbow jersey.

"(It) may be Slovenia versus the whole world. I think there a lot of countries who can play a role for the victory."

The World Championships were originally due to take place in Switzerland but were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was then announced by the UCI earlier this month they would take place in Italy instead.

On Thursday, Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won the women’s time trial after defending champion Chloe Dygert crashed out.