British cycling’s performance director and Sky Procycling chief Dave Brailsford suggested in recent days that Mark Cavendish may have to forget about the green jersey in the Tour de France, but the rider himself appears to remain focused on achieving that goal.
Cavendish had previously said that he had twin objectives of taking the Tour’s Maillot Vert for a second consecutive year and also winning the Olympic road race.
Last week Brailsford suggested that this doubling up plus talk that Bradley Wiggins could target Tour victory plus Olympic time trial success would be too much.
"We've got four big goals in close proximity and they all revolve around Mark and Bradley," he told the BBC, stating that it was essential to prioritise.
"I think just to say that you're going to give each one equal significance and try to win everything is probably the recipe for failure. What we really need to do is to look at them and say: 'If you could just have one, which one would you take?'
However, speaking to the Guardian, Cavendish has said that he thinks it’s not out of the question for himself and Wiggins to seal green and yellow jerseys in the Tour.
"It's very possible," Cavendish asserted. "We've got the team and riders to make that goal. We've got guys who can ride tough all day, guys who can lead out, guys who can ride in the mountains. Brad's going great and his form is exceptional."
Cavendish remains confident despite having a recent setback. He made winning Milan-Sanremo a major early season target but was dropped early on, later pulling out of the race.
However he hasn’t let that get to him. He believes that he can take gold on British soil, winning in front of a home crowd in what would be a huge moment for cycling there.
"I think there's a very real possibility," he insisted. "The Olympic Games are in London and we've got the strongest team Britain has ever had. This is probably the strongest road team any nation has had. And we've got the fastest sprinter in the world.”
However he also accepts that it will be a tougher task than his world championship title, achieved on a relatively flat course in Denmark.
"London is definitely not straightforward like Copenhagen where we could control the bunch. We've got less riders and the recovery time between climbing Box Hill nine times is short. Going up Box Hill once and even twice is not going to feel much of a climb. After four or five times it'll bite. Doing it the ninth time, it's going to feel like a mountain. But I've climbed mountains before. It's a good course for us."