British Cycling coy

Cavendish is still recovering from the lung infection which forced him out of the Tour of Missouri earlier this month.

The 24-year-old - who won six Tour de France stages in July - has until Thursday to prove his fitness.

And King - the has overseen Great Britain's rise from 17th to first in the world rankings - admits it's hard to pick a winner from a field which includes Spain's Vuelta a Espana winner Alejandro Valverde.

"It's a different sort of team that goes to a Road World Championships," said King. "They've been out there competing in their own teams all summer and then come together in a GB team.

"There's some good quality riders in there but on the road you can never tell who's going to win. If it's a big bunch sprint and Mark Cavendish is at the front then we have a good chance but if it's hilly then maybe it'll favour someone else.

"Sometimes it's won by somebody who sneaks away early in the race, there's a lot of tactics involved but they'll go there feeling good about it."

Great Britain were awarded the maximum nine places for Sunday's 262.2km road race for the first time after the success Bradley Wiggins and Cavendish have enjoyed in 2009.

The original squad of 14 was tripped down to ten on Monday, with Dan Fleeman and Jeremy Hunt missing cut, while 21-year-old Jonny Bellis is in a critical condition after a crash on his motor scooter in Italy.

Nine will contest the race with Ian Stannard to replace Cavendish if the Manxman is ruled out.

David Millar will lead the team - despite winning the Vuleta a Espana time trial - leaving Garmin-Slipstream team-mate Wiggins to contest Thursday's time trial with Chris Froome.

Rising star Ben Swift takes his place in the road race team a week after claiming his maiden professional win on the Tour of Britain's seventh stage.

And despite King's cautious approach, 21-year-old Swift admits he's full of confidence heading to Switzerland.

"It's been an amazing week for me and to get my first professional win was all that I could have asked for really," said Swift - who finished fourth in the under-23 category at last year's World Championships.

"I was feeling pretty tired around London and I am still a little bit heavy now so I will have a bit of a recuperation period before getting ready for the worlds.

"I will go there so confident having achieved what I have done on the Tour of Britain."

Meanwhile, there are also podium hopes in the women's road race for Olympic champion Nicole Cooke and time triallist Emma Pooley.

While Peter Kennaugh, who will race for Team Sky next season, leads British chances in the men's under-23 road race.