The Slovenian superstars will join the Tasmanian and cream of elite cycling for the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Italy.

Having had just three days at his home in Monaco with his wife Gemma, son Luca and new-born daughter Eloise since leaving Paris, Porte will head 500 kilometres east for the final event in his disrupted but hugely successful 2020 season.

Most of the riders he has spent the last three weeks sharing French mountains with will be back in competition in the equally daunting peaks around the city of Imola.

Colombians Miguel Lopez, Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Uran, Frenchmen Julian Alaphilippe, Guillaume Martin and Thibaut Pinot, Spaniards Mikel Landa and Enric Mas, Belgian Wout Van Aert, Dutchman Tom Dumoulin and Slovakian Peter Sagan will all renew Tour de France hostilities on Sunday.

An illustrious start list will also include former Tour de France winners like Brit Geraint Thomas and Italian Vincenzo Nibali.

Due to COVID-19, the world championship format will only feature elite categories with the challenging men's road race including 5000 metres of climbing on a 259km course.

Porte is no stranger to world championships but has enjoyed most success in the time trials, twice recording top-six finishes.

But the 35-year-old will be among the favourites for the road race given its climber-friendly course and his exceptional form which has yielded podium finishes in four major races this year.

The Trek-Segafredo team leader appears well supported in an Australian team which saw a couple of late changes this week.

Lucas Hamilton and Jack Haig both withdrew, to be replaced by their Mitchelton-Scott teammate Nicholas Schultz and Sunweb's Chris Hamilton.

The team also boasts considerable experience in Simon Clarke - who infamously donated his own wheel to rescue a punctured Porte in the 2015 Giro d'Italia - Luke Durbridge, Michael Matthews, Jai Hindley and Damien Howson.

Porte has been staying coy about his prospects, and while licking his lips about the mountainous course admitted it would provide plenty of motivation to keep off the gelato for one more week.

Rohan Dennis is aiming for a third consecutive time trial victory after successes in Innsbruck and Yorkshire to match the record of compatriot Michael Rogers between 2003 and 2005.