Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) has confirmed that he will do the cyclo-cross World Championships on Sunday. The Czech rider claims to be in good form and has set his sights on a podium spot.

After months of speculation, Zdenek Stybar has finally confirmed that he will be on the start line when the Cyclo-Cross World Championships take place in the Dutch city of Hoogerheide on Sunday. A solid training camp with his road teammates on Mallorca has set him up for another participation in the event he won in 2010 and 2011.

Stybar has turned his attention to the road where his main target is to improve on his 6th place in the Paris-Roubaix. In addition to his good ride in Robaix, he won a stage in the Vuelta a Espana and two stages and the overall at the Eneco Tour.

However, he has continued to do a few cross races in the winter and while he is no longer able to beat the best riders, he has not been far off the pace. This winter he won the smaller race in Bredene but put a temporary end to his off-road season just before New Year.

However, he continued to speculate that he would do the race in Hoogerheide which is held close to his home in the Belgian city of Essen. With his eyes on the road, however, he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks and so claimed that he would not do the race if the weather was bad and would require too much running.

Despite rain having made the course very heavy, he has decided to give it a shot.

"I'm in good condition," he said. "I came from important training sessions in Mallorca and I'm ready to compete. I like the parcours even if today I couldn't really train on all of it. As I said a few weeks ago, if I decide to do Worlds it is because I feel that I can do well. The podium would be a great result even if the competitors are really strong, especially Sven Nys who showed his class in the last races. I will do my best to be competitive.

"Normally the parcours will be hard because of the rain the last few days," he added after testing out the circuit. "I like these kind of conditions even if I hope it won't rain on Sunday. From today till the last day of the race I won't do much following some decent training in Mallorca. I will take advantage of the next days to recover a bit and find a good set up and feeling with my Specialized Crux bike. I'm really looking forward to the race. Worlds are always special and they gave me a lot of notoriety in the past."