Fabian Cancellara (Radishack) won't start tomorrow's 18th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. He confirms to Eurosport that he will head home to finish his preparations for the world championships.

There won't be any Fabian Cancellara in the final three mountain stages and the parade into Madrid in the Vuelta a Espana as the Swiss time trial and classics specialist will leave the race at the end of today's stage. The Radioshack rider confirms to Eurosport that he won't start tomorrow's stage.

Cancellara has built the second half of his season around his attempt to finally win the world road race championships and skipped the Tour de France as a consequence. During the Vuelta, he has left a very strong impression, looking lean and climbing exceptionally well. He finished 2nd behind Daniel Moreno on stage 4, 3rd behind Michael Mørkøv and Maximilano Richeze on stage 6 and won the stage 11 time trial ahead of world champion Tony Martin.

With teammate Chris Horner riding exceptionally well, there had been speculation that Cancellara would change his original plans to support  the American all the way to the end. Today's announcement shows that he has decided to stay fully focused on the worlds.

Cancellara will ride the road race in Florence later this year but still hasn't decided whether he will line up in the team or individual time trials.