The World Championships were not originally in Vincenzo Nibali's plans for 2019, but the Italian cycling standard bearer may be called up to the Yorkshire event later this month.

National coach Davide Cassani has already approached Nibali about wearing Maria Azzurra on September 29, and a final decision on his participation will be made after this week's World Tour races in Canada, the Quebec and Montreal GPs.

Nibali's season is already assured to continue until Il Lombardia on October 12, but it was initially thought that he would be away from international duty this month, as he has already raced both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this year.

"I don't know," Nibali told reporters in Quebec City on Wednesday. 'I've talked to Davide Cassani, but whether I'll go or not will wait until after Quebec and Montreal. If I were to leave, it would be as a helper for Sonny Colbrelli and Matteo Trentin."

"I don't feel bad considering I had a stressful season in both the Giro and the Tour. I did win a stage in the Tour, but it wasn't easy. After that I recovered a lot and I was able to switch mentally. I had a good feeling in the Deutschland Tour, but I am not in the best condition ever, especially for the World Championships."

Nibali was virtually out of gas at the end of the Tour de France, but he used his second-place finish in the Giro to take a solo stage win in Val Trans on the final day of the testing race.

"I ran out of energy there. The average temperature was the coldest it's ever been, and it was raining. And compared to last year, there was a week less between the Giro and the Tour," Nibali said.

Despite these mitigating circumstances, Nibali even suffered the humiliation of roadside jeers during the Tour. Despite having already decided to leave Bahrain-Merida for Trek-Segafredo at the end of the season, Nibali refused to finish the Tour early.

"It wasn't nice to go home after the Tour," he said. 'I got booed a few times, but I didn't care. But I didn't care about that. But I wanted to win the stage and I never gave up."

Nibali has been in contention for wins on every course. But despite winning the 2014 Tour in Sheffield, the 34-year-old is adamant that he will remain in a supporting role if selected this time around.

"I remember my victories in the Tour well and I remember the roads. I know it won't be an easy World Championships. But if I am selected, it will be to help the national team. The course is quite fast, so it's not for me. It's not that hard of a climb, and it's more suited to explosive athletes.

Nibali insisted that Cassani would make the final selection, but admitted that he would base his comments on his own feeling in Canada this week, where he will be riding primarily with the support of his Bahrain-Merida teammate Colbrelli.

"It depends on how I feel. Maglia Azura is a big responsibility." I have the greatest loyalty to the jersey, so if there is a better player than me, he deserves to wear the blue jersey instead. But David might say, "The important thing is to have a good group, a good team spirit."