Never count out the Italians, even when not on home soil. They have a stacked lineup. It's probably too tough for Bronzini this year, but Noemi Cantele and Tatiana Guderzo are both capable, Rossella Ratto and Valentina Scandolara can animate the race (Scandolara is like a female Pirazzi), and of course with climbing going on you can't write off the enormously experienced Luperini.
My likely favourite of the Italians however would be Elisa Longo Borghini, who has, when not being cripplingly injured, been one of the very best in the world this year.
The Germans could compete even now Arndt is retired, I suspect Trixi Worrack will be in one move or another, and I would like to see Claudia Häusler among the main animators on the climb, since a few years ago she was one of the very best climbers in the péloton. Australia also have a very strong team, though based on the parcours I'm not convinced it's one for a few of their bigger names. Cromwell may have a chance, but I'm thinking Shara Gillow is likely to be their biggest threat.
The USA also have a big opportunity to take home the spoils here, because they have, in Evie Stevie and Mara Abbott, two of the world's best uphill. Abbott's palmarès is a little sparse in one-day races, Stevens by contrast has, though not much this season, produced quite good results in hilly one-day races in the past (winning La Flèche Wallonne last year, for example).
Also, never rule out Emma Johansson - not too much in the way of team support around her, but she's always a threat. For the Russians, there's Antoshina who is good on this kind of route, and Olga Zabelinskaya, who has taken some time out for family matters, but returned to the péloton recently with solid results (top 10 of the ITT) so will be fresher than many competitors; she of course won Olympic bronze in both formats last year and is the daughter of the greatest climber the Eastern Bloc ever produced, so she's more than capable. So I'd say that while Vos has been a terminator for a long time, this year she has shown a couple of signs of occasional weakness, from her and her team's inability to control what became the race winning break in the Emakumeen Bira to cracking completely and losing over 5 minutes to Monte Beigua in the Giro Rosa. However, she is in stunning form at present, crushing the Trophée d'Or Féminin and leading the Giro della Toscana before pulling out in protest along with half the bunch before the final stage. There aren't too many real hilly riders in that Dutch team, but their strength in depth should ensure they have somebody able to be part of almost any move. And Vos may have shown a bit of weakness this year, but only on climbs that are tougher than anything in these Worlds.
This is the climb that did for her in the Giro:
and in the Emakumeen Bira:
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