After seeing the type of barriers used at the GP Quebec, Zdenek Stybar has appealed to the UCI to use safer barriers. At the Eneco Tour, Stybar, who was race leader at the time, swerved to avoid a crash and ran into the barriers, which stick out 30cm onto the road. He dramatically flipped over and ended up with a broken jaw and required plastic surgery and he needs new caps put on some of his broken teeth.

"I don't think they should be allowed anymore. I think it's very dangerous for us," Stybar told Cyclingnews.

"There was a crash in the middle of the road, and everyone swerved to go around it, and I ended up very close to the barriers. My front wheel went right into the foot of the barrier," Stybar told Cyclingnews. "It's 30cm out in the road. You need that room for error. Without them you could still get out of it, but with them in the way, it's impossible."

Despite all of the damage, Styba made a return to racing at the Brussels Cycling Classic before riding the two Canadian one-day races.

"I'm glad to be back on the bike so soon," he said ahead of his second race back after the Brussels Classic. "It's hard, I honestly am not feeling so good, but I will try to get the best out of it. It could be much worse."

He will now look to finish the road season strongly before displaying his Rainbow Jersey in the Cyclo-cross sport this winter.

"Most likely it will be the same programme as last year, I will definitely do the Christmas season," he said. Whether or not he will defend his title when the championships are held in his home country remains to be seen.

"It's in the Czech Republic, so it will be difficult to say no," he said. Stybar won his first elite world title in Tabor in 2010, and went on to win a second one the following year, and his third after a truncated 2013-2014 season. "It is too far away to decide, but I'd love to be there again in front of the crowd in Tabor, it changed my career. It would be nice to give something back to them again."