Follow britishcycling.org.uk on

Brailsford keeping options open ahead of 2012

13th July 2011
Source: Press Association Sport

British Cycling chief David Brailsford will examine every possible strategy to give his riders the best chance of securing a golden Olympics next summer.

Mark Cavendish, who this week won his 17th stage of the Tour de France, is a leading contender to deliver Britain's first medal of London 2012 in the men's road race.

Brailsford, also the leader of Team Sky, maintains there is no reason to leave Cavendish out of the 2012 Tour, and furthermore will explore the possibility of having three-time Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins compete on the road alongside the Manxman.

"We will sit down and look at the options," said Brailsford.

"What is his [Cavendish's] best preparation? It would probably be to ride the Tour de France and then after that, into London.  If Brad was to ride the individual time-trial in London and the road race as well, Mark's chances would be significantly increased if you had Bradley Wiggins in the road race to help him out."

Brailsford sees no reason why Cavendish should sacrifice his Tour de France ambitions next year to focus on the Olympic road race.

"At the end of the Tour this year, Cav will be in great shape. He gets better as the race goes on. For him to race again in 10 days, in a one-day race, I can't see a better preparation.  With the road-race guys and road time-trial guys, the Tour de France could potentially be the best preparation."

Brailsford added: "There is a feeling that you get massive volume and massive endurance over a three-week Tour, but that it just takes the edge off the top end, so we will want to have a real look at that. There is another school of thought that says it's the best thing you can possibly do."

Despite all of the hype surrounding London 2012, and a cycling team which delivered eight golds in Beijing, Brailsford maintains his riders must aim to keep things simple.

"Given the enormity of a home Games, we are still going to be riding bikes on a round track, that does not change.  There is an enormous simplicity in our approach, if we all get too intense by trying to be so great that could actually be counterproductive when it comes to performance."