As Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish seek cycling immortality on the roads of France next month, Geraint Thomas will be riding around in circles in Manchester. But the 26-year-old from Cardiff would have it no other way.

Thomas has proven himself to be a versatile and leading talent on the bike, including this season as team-mate Wiggins has won three stage races, with the Welshman providing support at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie as the Londoner proved his credentials as a potential Tour de France champion.

Rather than support Wiggins in the mountains and Cavendish in the sprints when the Tour begins in Liege on June 30, Thomas will instead focus on fine-tuning preparations for success in the four-kilometre team pursuit at a second successive Olympics.

Beijing gold medal winner Thomas told Press Association Sport: Theres no doubt at all, but Id love to have been going to France to help them both out.

Its just unfortunate where the Olympics and Tour falls in the year.

I was always going to come back and ride the team pursuit. A home Olympics is massive and its my best chance of winning a gold medal. Its always been like that.

The team pursuit really excites me and its something I love doing. I just cant wait to get on those boards in London now and rip it up.

Thomas completed the Giro dItalia alongside Team Sky colleague Pete Kennaugh and the duo were both named in the Great Britain Olympic team earlier this month, with Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant completing the team pursuit squad.

All five have been riding on the road in the last few weeks but recently returned to the track for the first time since winning the World Championships in Melbourne in April.

The British team set a world record of three minutes 53.295 seconds there, going faster than the Beijing-winning mark.

See original here:
Cycling: Geraint Thomas in pursuit of Olympic track gold