Mark Cavendish has admitted his form and confidence going into Sunday’s World Championship road race have both been knocked by a bout of illness.
The 31-year-old Manxman is bidding to win the road world title for the second time in his career and is one of the bookmakers' favourites on a flat, 257.5km course in Doha, Qatar.
The race has been a long-term target for Cavendish and he even helped select Great Britain's team, but his preparations were disrupted when he picked up an intestinal infection last month, needed time off the bike to recover and missed key build-up races.
"It has affected my top-end power," he said. "Four days in bed and five or six days off training is less than ideal.
"Before I was ill, I had more confidence than I did going into Copenhagen [his world title win in 2011] with my form, and the strength that we have as a team. It has knocked my confidence, being sick, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that we could win.
"But I was pretty convinced that we had the best opportunity a few weeks ago. The form is OK. We have got to have a try."
Riders will have to contend with temperatures of up to 37C on Sunday and also potential crosswinds on the desert roads that the race's first 150km will follow.
Cavendish is confident that one-day Classics experts Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe can guide him safely through the desert, while spending time in a sauna this week should help him with the heat.
He can also count on the experience of having won nine stages and two overall titles at the Tour of Qatar, the second of which came this February.
Cavendish added: "I know the roads out here really well. I have won the Tour of Qatar twice and most of the guys ride the Tour of Qatar every year. We have got a good Classics group here.
"It's a group that is going to be able to ride in the crosswinds, be able to ride for a sprint finish, and hopefully we have done enough work to deal with the heat.
"The heat is dying down, but it's still going to be a big factor over 260km, and that's been the biggest thing. We have done a lot of stuff to acclimatise to it and we've got a strategy in place to try and deal with that on the day, so we will have to see how it goes.
"It's not just us dealing with the heat, with the conditions, with the wind, but hopefully we have got a benefit over the others."