Peter Sagan (Cannondale) will be one of the hotly tipped favourites at the start line of the World Championship in Florence on 29 September.

The Slovak has spent the past month and a half preparing for the Worlds in North America and returned yesterday with nine wins to show for his efforts. His wins on North American soil take Sagan’s total for the season to 22, making him the most successful rider of the season in terms of wins. Sagan’s powerful burst that saw him take the Montreal GP on Sunday leaves no doubt about his current fitness level. The opposition has been warned.

On August 5 Sagan started training in Aspen, Colorado, concentrating on high altitude training, before tackling the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, the Tour of Alberta, the GP Quebec and the GP Montreal. Sagan headed back to Europe with four victories in Colorado, three in Alberta and the GP Montreal in his bag.

"It is difficult to give an opinion on the difficulty of the route because doing a recce tour is one thing, but in the race things can change. Of course, it is a circuit in which energy can be easily wasted. It’s better to launch a single, but decisive attack,” Sagan told Gazzetta dello Sport when he landed in Italy.

Cannondale trainer Paolo Slongo believes Sagan is ready for the challenge in Florence. "Peter has been training very well, putting height metres into his legs and he had no acclimatization problems in the United States.

Slongo also remains confident that Sagan will not be troubled by the length of the course (278km).

"No, the distance is not a problem. Peter has no limitations that sometimes plagued him during his first year as a professional rider. In Milan-San Remo he lost out to Ciolek because he made a mistake, not because of the accumulated distance of 300 kilometres. He was also very competitive in the Tour of Flanders and was only beaten by Cancellara."

Sagan's chances are hampered, however, by the fact that the Slovak team consists of only six riders, whereas other squads such as Italy and Spain contain nine riders. In addition to Sagan, the Slovak team is made up by Matej Jurco (Dukla Trencin Trek) , Jurag Sagan (Cannondale), Patrik Tibor (Dukla Trencin Trek), Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).