Welcome to live coverage of the World Championships Elite Women's Road Race from Limburg - a 129km course over a 16.5km loop that finishes in Valkenburg atop the famous Cauberg climb.

ATTACK: American Megan Guarnier has a dog on the Bemelerberg, provoking a reaction from the Italians. Giorgio Bronzini is, of course, going for a third successive world championships gold medal...

The British rider with blood on her face was Katie Colclough, who must have hit her nose or teeth on a bike part of the tarmac. On the front of the pack now is Briton's Nicole Cooke, who has a team-mate alongside her. Contasting fortunes for the British ladies. Cooke just squeezed through a small gap to avoid the crash after riders from Italy and the Czech Republic initially collided.

The pace was not too fast ahead of that crash, but because the peloton was so closely packed, one touch of wheels brought a whole raft of riders down, and then those towards the back just ploughed into those in front in a huge domino affect.

Most of the Brits and Americans were unaffected by that crash because of their position on the front of the peloton. But some big names are currently quite off the pace - including Judith Arndt.

MASSIVE PILE UP: Most of the peloton come down after a huge accident near the front of the peloton. Numerous riders have gone down, but because of the barriers, half the peloton cannot pass through - and there will be huge splits now. Emma Pooley has been held up, as has one of the other Brits, who has blood all over her face.

CRASH: South Africa's Robyn de Groot is riding along on the back of the peloton ahead of the second ascent of the Cauberg and she crashes dramatically just in front of a zebra crossing and hits the deck in quite spectacular fashion right by the barriers. Not nice. She has a nasty cut on her left elbow, and landed heavily on her left hip.

It's a sunny day in Limburg, with some puffy white clouds in a blue sky and temperatures currently around 15 degrees Celsius. There are, however, some ominous looking grey clouds on the horizon.

British hopes today include Emma Pooley, Katie Colclough, Nicole Cooke, Nikki Harris and Sharon Laws. But it's the USA team who are currently fronting the peloton. The big American favourite is Evie Stevens, who finished second behind Judith Arndt in the time trial earlier in the week. Stevens beat Vos in the Fleche-Wallonne race back in the spring, so she's certainly one to watch today.

The first ascent of the Cauberg also sees the peloton attack it as one. No one is willing to make a move at such an early stage in the race. There is one 16% section on the legendary Cauberg, which is most famous for its place on the Amstel Gold spring classic. Today's finish comes 800m after the summit, which will give some of the sprinters a chance to get back into the fold.

The race has started at a very slow pace, with the peloton still grouped together for the first ascent of the Bemelerberg.

The big favourite today is Dutch star Marianne Vos, the current Olympic champion and the in-form rider of the women's peloton. But to win today she will have to overturn a five-year bogey: she has taken silver in every world championships since 2007.

They're off! The 2012 Women's Elite Road Race is under way. It's eight laps of a 16km circuit that includes two climbs - the Bernelerberg (900m at 5%) and the legendary Cauberg (1,200m at average 5.8%, but reaching a maximum 12%).

This morning, Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko claimed the men's U23 road race world title when he prevailed in a tightly contested sprint finish on Saturday. France's Bryan Coquard, a silver medallist on the track's omnium at the London Olympics, looked the most powerful rider but came from too far out and took silver. Belgian Tom van Asbroeck picked up the bronze.

Yesterday, Britain's Lucy Garner won the junior women's world championship road race in Limburg for the second year in succession. The 18-year-old from Leicestershire outsprinted Norway's Eline Brustad and Italy's Anna Stricker to repeat her victory in Copenhagen last year.