Marcel Kittel may have been selected for a joker role in the German team for the World Championships but the Etixx-QuickStep star doesn't seem to have given up his own chance yet. In a post on his personal website, he claims that the team have three cards to play.

After more than a year of speculation, Germany has announced that André Greipel will lead the country at the Worlds in Qatar and that Marcel Kittel will have a joker role. One day after the announcement, Kittel has responded to the news in a post on his website.

"As you may know, I was having some stomach problems before Eneco," he wrote. "Unfortunately it turned out to be worse than I thought. At Eneco it was also not yet good. The time trial went well, but in the road stages, there were problems on the longer distances with the energy intake and nourishing the muscles. So as a precautionary measure I abandoned the race and let myself be thoroughly checked out again. A stomach irritation was found, but it is doing better already and I am confident for the Worlds.

"I am looking forward to Qatar and am happy that I can start there. The nomination of Andre and me opens up more chances for us in the race, but also presents us all with a challenge and new experiences. Together with John Degenkolb, we are three strong sprinters and all of us belong among the favorites. That makes our team difficult for the other nations to figure out. At the same time, it gives us more options, in case one of us has a bad day or suffers a crash or mechanical problem. And Dege is, for example, a real winning rider out of a group. We will do our best to make the most out of this luxury problem...."

The race takes place on October 23.