Mark Cavendish accepts Olympic dream almost certainly over

Mark Cavendish has accepted that his quest for an Olympic medal is almost certainly over, saying the UCI has made it impossible to combine racing on the road and in the velodrome, and accusing the UCI of “killing track cycling.”

The 29-year-old had expressed hopes he might ride the Omnium at Rio next year, and has taken part in both the Gent and Zurich six-day races this winter.

But in an interview filmed at his Etixx-Quick Step team’s training camp, he told BBC Sport’s Matt Slater that it would not be possible to balance his commitments to his employers with racing on the track.

"It probably won't happen," he said. "It's not 100 per cent I'm not doing the Olympics, but it's difficult. If I'm honest. I've got a road job."

Riders are obliged to qualify for the Olympic track events through points amassed in certain competitions in the two years leading up to the Games.

"The UCI has segregated track and road cycling completely," said Cavendish. "So you have to do what Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing and quit road cycling to be able to qualify for it.

"It's killing track cycling, because you never get the road stars doing track anymore. Track cycling is going to die, particularly on the endurance side,” he cautioned.

"As a British athlete, I want to do the Olympics, but it's hard.”

Cavendish accepts that he is unsuited to the road race course at Rio and that he is not stringenough against the clock to feature in the time trial.

He reflected: "I can't do it on the road, can't do it in the time trial and on the track there's just no way to qualify without quitting the road."

"The road race doesn't suit me, the time trial, well, I'm not a time triallist," he added.

He was the sole Team GB track cyclist to miss out on a medal at Beijing in 2008, when he partnered Bradley Wiggins in the Madison but the pair, the reigning world champions, finished ninth.

At London 2012, his hopes of winning the road race were dashed when a big group of riders including the winner, Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, got away on the final ascent of Box Hill.

This winter, as he sought to get back to full fitness following his crash on the opening day of last July’s Tour de France in Harrogate, he rode on the track with Etixx-Quick Step team mate Iljo Keisse at the six-day meetings in Gent and Zurich.

But team manager Patrick Lefevere now wants him to concentrate on the road beginning with the Tour de San Luis in Argentina this month.

Cavendish will target Milan-San Remo in March, and is expected to ride the Giro d’Italia in May ahead of looking to increase his haul of Tour de France sprint wins in July.