Petra Rossner, leading Germany's strong Nürnberger team, is a clear favorite heading into Sunday's opening round of the women's road cycling World Cup at Geelong, south of Melbourne.

Rossner won the Canberra round last year on the way to claiming the overall World Cup title.

The powerful Nürnberger team also features German Judith Arndt, who like Rossner moved to the team after a successful run at the American Saturn squad. The team also includes Australian Margaret Hemsley, who won stage two of this week's Geelong tour. The Nürnberger riders featured prominently in that race.

The Australian Sports Institute team is also expected to be competitive with No.1 rider Olivia Gollan carrying outstanding form into the race.

The 29-year-old Australian won last month's national road title and earlier this week took the inaugural Tour of Geelong.

Sara Carrigan, Alison Wright and stage three winner Katie Mactier are other Australians whose form in the Geelong tour indicates they should feature prominently on Sunday.

This will be the fifth time Australia has hosted a women's World Cup race, but it is debuting in Geelong, on the southern shores of Port Phillip Bay.

The 119km race will be 17 laps of a 7km course that will take in the Geelong seashore and some of the business district.