Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was forced to cancel his participation at the Münsterland Giro and at the last minute he has also chosen to skip Thursday’s Paris-Bourges. A gastrointestinal infection has stopped the Brit and according to Dimension Data Team manager Rolf Aldag there is now a serious question mark behind the Worlds ambitions in Qatar.

"He should have and wanted to start here and had booked a flight," Aldag told radsport-news.com at the race in Münster last Monday. "But after 70 kilometers he had to abandon the GP Beghelli completely empty. Then he went to the doctor and was six days off the bike with gastrointestinal problems. That also makes it a bit difficult for the Worlds. We will make day-to-day decisions about his participation in Paris-Bourges and Paris-Tours.”

In 13 days, the best sprinters in the world will fight for the world title and the location could make it difficult for Cavendish. In view of the expected heat of between 35 and 40 degrees, the weight loss will make it doubly "He says: 'I am super slim. The weight is definitely not going to fail'," said Aldag about Cavendish who has been back on the bike since Saturday.

"On the other hand you can look back at Copenhagen (where Cavendish became world champion in 2011, e.d) when he left the Vuelta after two days and nothing went right. He can turn such things around incredibly fast," Aldag said. Back then there were 33 days between the Vuelta exit and the Worlds race - including the nine-day Tour of Britain where he got two stage wins. This time there are 21 days between GP Beghelli and the road race in Doha, but with a maximum of one day of racing at Paris-Tours

Before his health issues, Cavendish rode a strongly at the Giro della Toscana, where he was sixth overall. "He was still there when there were only 40 riders left in the group and he had no problems. It looked good," said Aldag. Since then, things have changed dramatically for Cavendish.