Shane Sutton believes Mark Cavendish may miss his chance to qualify for the omnium at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, although Cavendish has yet to rule himself out.
“We would have opened the door to Cav, he is one of those who was born with the gift and can do anything technically, greatest road sprinter of all time but unfortunately I think it’s the end of the road for Cav,” said British Cycling’s technical director.
Cavendish said in the autumn that he hoped to race the omnium in Rio, before stating in January he feared he would fall foul of the UCI’s qualification system which will make it hard for him to gain the 90 ranking points he needs before the deadline of 1 September this year.
“It’s a shame,” Sutton said. “The road ends when he can’t qualify numerically, until then the door is open, but if he hasn’t got the points on the board he can’t qualify. I’m one of his biggest admirers, as everyone knows, and at this moment in time his choice is to protect his road contract.
“But Ben Swift is very keen and don’t underestimate the ability of Jon Dibben. He has got it all and the coaching staff should be able to get it all out of him.” Dibben will ride the omnium next week in Paris rather than the team pursuit rider, Ed Clancy, who has decided to devote himself to the 4,000m for the moment.
Sutton added that he is hoping to see Peter Kennaugh – a gold medallist in London – make himself available for Rio and he also called on another Team Sky rider, Luke Rowe, to make a push for the Games. “When he was at the academy he showed great quality as a track rider.”
Elsewhere, British Cycling’s director of cycle sport, Jonny Clay, said that he has yet to meet the Welcome to Yorkshire head, Gary Verity, to discuss the county’s interest in hosting the world road race championships. He underlined that other potential hosts are interested and added that British Cycling began a feasibility study two and a half weeks ago on the championships, which he believes will entail similar costs to the Tour de France start, about £25m.
British Cycling also released the dates for the 2016 world track championships in London, which will be held a week later than planned, from 2-6 March, to accommodate the BBC’s need to cover Six Nations rugby.
