If Mark Cavendish wishes to race on the track at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, he must rule out finishing the Tour de France this July, according to British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton.
Cavendish closed out the UCI Track World Championships with a world title in the Madison with Bradley Wiggins, having finished sixth overall in the omnium, the event he is hoping to ride at the Olympic Games this summer.
With the Tour de France coming just before the Games, however, the British Cycling coaching staff have made clear to Cavendish that in order to sustain his hopes of gaining selection he must buy into their training progamme. This includes racing the Tour of California in May before another block of training on the track. Crucially, it also involves leaving the Tour de France before the race reaches Paris.
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“For sure, he will be at the Tour, 100 per cent. Cav won't do three weeks of the Tour. If he wants to medal, he's well aware that he probably wouldn't be going to Paris,” Sutton said.
Sutton added that discussions with Cavendish’s trade team, Dimension Data, had already been held but that further conversations would take place after Cavendish completed Tirreno-Adriatico next week.
"I'm very close to Brian Smith and Doug [Ryder] and they're very supportive of the venture. It's just a matter of sitting down with Cav and, 'Are we going to do this? Do you want to put yourself forward?', and then the selection panel will come together.
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