World champion Mark Cavendish has described his Great Britain squad as “the dream team” but feels no additional pressure despite potentially being the first home champion of London 2012.
Since the programme for the Games was revealed with the 250-kilometre road race on the opening day, Cavendish has had the expectation of possibly being the first gold medal winner for Britain on The Mall.
Whether it is the first or last event, Cavendish is not concerned, but he has been planning for and considering this event for a long time, so much so that he knows the Box Hill loop like the back of his hand.
Cavendish said: “An Olympic medal, regardless if it’s the first or last on offer, it’s an Olympic medal for your team.
“It’s easy to get emotional about it. I’ve been nervous this week.
“We’ve trained to be able to deal with those nerves and we’ve got to put it to bed.
“We’ve got a process which we have to adhere to. It’s a process we know if we commit 100% we’ve got the best chance of winning.”
Cavendish is joined in the five-man squad by Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, who was second, David Millar and Ian Stannard, and feels the team could not be stronger.
The 27-year-old, who won the test event over a modified route last August, added: “We were motoring along in training and I just looked round and it’s the dream team.
“We’ve got first and second on GC (general classification) of the Tour de France (Wiggins and Froome), four guys who won stages of the Tour de France (Wiggins, Froome, Millar and himself) and a British champion (Stannard).
“All guys incredibly motivated, incredibly patriotic and incredibly loyal to each other.
“If we wanted to win this bike race we couldn’t be in a better situation team-wise.”
Cavendish has not even considered the prospect of victory and will race again on Sunday in a lucrative criterium race.
“I don’t ever really celebrate anything, I just set the next target,” Cavendish added.
“I’m racing on Sunday in Belgium, Monday in Pau, Tuesday in Holland.
“It’s my day job. That’s what professional cycling is. It’s entertainment.”
Wiggins is ready to pass the leadership mantle on to Cavendish after becoming the first British winner of the yellow jersey.
Wiggins said: “This is what Cav has been living for for most of the year.
“In our minds there’s no doubt that he’s going to be there in the final.
“He’s been there for me the last month and now he can sense that it’s his turn and we’re all there for him.”