Mark Cavendish, one of the greatest British Olympians to not win an Olympic medal, expressed major doubt he can make a third Olympic team in 2016.
“I want to do the Olympics, but it’s hard,” the cyclist said, according to the BBC. “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.”
Cavendish, 29 and with 25 Tour de France stage wins, would seem a contender if the Olympic road race comes to a sprint in Rio de Janeiro. But he said the planned road course does not suit him.
Cavendish had medal hopes evaporate at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics.
In 2008, Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins finished ninth in track cycling’s madison after winning the World Championship five months earlier. Cavendish was the only British track cycling team member not to win a medal in Beijing.
In 2012, Cavendish was the favorite to win Great Britain’s first gold medal of the London Games in the road race. He finished 29th.
