Rio Olympic selection headache looms as Shane Sutton calls on Sky riders for team pursuit

Could Team Sky provide three of the four riders who will try and win a third successive Olympic gold medal for Team GB in the team pursuit at Rio next year? It’s possible as British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton names some of the riders he would like to see feature – but he could be in line for a massive headache over selection.

That’s because Sir Bradley Wiggins leaves Sky at the end of April to head up his own Team Wiggins outfit, also sponsored by the broadcaster and which has as one of its stated goals preparing riders for the men’s endurance events at the 2016 Olympics.

Several of those riders will feature at the UCI Track World Championships in Paris next week, as will double Olympic champion Ed Clancy of JLT-Condor, reflecting the fact that Great Britain now has unparalleled strength in depth in the event.

Speaking earlier this week, Sutton said that Wiggins is “a definite” for Rio where he will be seeking his fifth Olympic gold medal.

It’s an emphatic word for the Australian to use at this point in the Olympic cycle with a year and a half to go.

“Brad is the big one in all this,” said Sutton, reports Wales Online. “His desire is there, he has set up team meetings - Brad is a definite.”

He went on to name three other current Team Sky riders as potentially featuring in the event, saying: “Ben Swift is very keen and I think we will see the return of Peter Kennaugh, the Olympic TP champion.

“And there is one other rider I would like to see think about his Olympic ambitions. I am pretty sure he could make the road team, but I would like to see Luke Rowe have a look at the team pursuit.”

None of those riders figure in Great Britain’s men’s endurance squad for next week's world championships.

Two who do, however, are Clancy and Burke, who both have Olympic team pursuit gold medals from Beijing in 2008 and London two years later, where they rode alongside Geraint Thomas and Kennaugh.

The fifth member of the squad in 2012, Andy Tennant, a former world champion in the team pursuit, missed out on a medal in London because he did not ride in any of the three rounds of the event.

The 27-year-old will be joining Burke at Team Wiggins, as will Owain Doull and Mark Christian. The four riders, together with Clancy, rode for Great Britain as it won the team pursuit at the World Cup in London in December, and they all head to Paris.

Another Team Wiggins rider who rode in the team pursuit in this winter’s World Cup series, where Great Britain won the overall season title in the event, is Jon Dibben whom Sutton says will ride in the Omnium in Paris.

And underlining just how much strength in depth the country has in the discipline, it was a different quartet of young riders who headed to the final round in Cali, Colombia last month to take the bronze medal and seal the 2014/15 title – Germain Burton, Matt Gibson, Chris Latham and Mark Stewart.

But one rider who almost certainly won’t be at Rio is Mark Cavendish, frustrated in his attempts to win Olympic gold on the track in Beijing and on the road in London.

The Etixx-Quick Step rider had hoped to ride the Omnium in Brazil next year, but acknowledged recently that the current Olympic track qualification process in effect made it impossible for him to amass enough points while also concentrating on his road career.

“I would say Cav is a no,” said Sutton. “We would have opened the door to Cav, of course.

“He is one of those born with the gift. He can do anything technically, he has been world champion on the track and the greatest road sprinter of all time.

“But unfortunately I think it is the end of the road for Cav. I think he has made his decision not to entertain it.

“There is no cut-off date. The road ends when he can’t numerically qualify, simple as that. Until that point the door open for Cav.

“But if he doesn’t put the points on the board he can’t qualify.”

Sutton added: “I am one of Cav’s biggest admirers, as everybody knows. I just want what is best for Cav and at this moment his choice is to protect his road contract.

“You are talking about the greatest road sprinter of all time. He might never have won that Olympic medal that he probably craves but in the bigger picture it is small fry compared to what he has achieved.”