Wednesday 13 January 2016 08:40, UK
Team Sky sprinter Elia Viviani believes Mark Cavendish has taken on “too much” by bidding to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and win a medal on the track at the Olympic Games in 2016.
Cavendish has been training at the Manchester Velodrome over the winter in the hope of earning selection for Great Britain's lone place in the six-race omnium in Rio, which takes place over August 14-15.
He will also still be focusing on the road this year and has made winning the flat opening stage of the Tour on July 2 one of his main goals.
It remains to be seen if Cavendish completes the Tour, but even if he leaves early to prepare for the Olympics, fellow omnium contender Viviani doubts he will be able to find optimum condition in time.
Speaking at Team Sky's winter training camp in Mallorca, Viviani said: "I think it's too much. The Tour de France is so close to the Olympic Games.
"He can do it because, after the Tour de France, he will have really good condition, but he will pay in the kilo [the 1km time trial, which is the fourth of the six events].
"At the Olympics, you cannot afford to pay too much in the kilo because losing 20 points in the kilo, you are not out, because all races you can win, but you need to be 100 per cent in all six specialities, so it's more difficult."
Cavendish's first real acid test of his omnium credentials will come at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Hong Kong on Saturday and Sunday.
Viviani added: "I want to see what he does this week at the Hong Kong World Cup at international level in the omnium, because it's so much different from the international level in a normal race.
"I think he is competitive and it is easy to come back [to the track from the road], but you have to work a lot, specifically for the omnium in the month or two months before. I think he can be competitive [in the omnium], but he needs to focus only on this."
Despite casting doubts over Cavendish's Olympic chances, Viviani believes the 30-year-old Manxman has regained his status as the world's No 1 road sprinter.
He lost the mantle to Marcel Kittel in 2013 and 2014, but with the German suffering a difficult season in 2015 and Cavendish moving to Team Dimension Data this winter, Viviani expects him to be the most prolific winner of 2016.
He said: "I think Cavendish is again the best sprinter in the world now. If we see what Cav has won, no sprinter has won the same races.
"I think he is the best again and, also with the new team, I think he will be back to winning a lot this season. Kittel has the strongest sprint, if all goes well, but I think is the best again."
