Wiggins, Cavendish bring 'new dimension' to track cycling

Star pair Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish have brought a "new dimension" to the British Olympic track cycling team in Rio, according to head coach Iain Dyer.

Four-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins returned to track cycling full-time just over a year ago following a successful stint on the road in which he won Olympic time-trial gold in 2012 and the world championships in 2014.

Sprint king Cavendish, who still rides for African road team Dimension Data, has taken time out from his regular commitments to try to win an Olympic gold, which has eluded him in an otherwise stellar career.

Wiggins will compete on Thursday and Friday in the team pursuit, which he won with Britain in Beijing in 2008, while Cavendish will take part in Sunday's omnium.

"There's no question that they bring a new dimension back to the team," Dyer told AFP.

"You can't go away and achieve so much in other spheres without having a different perspective on an aspect of performance or preparation and looking after yourself, and things like that.

"I think it's really good for the team to see those guys come back in and adding that little bit extra.

"So I think it's really good for them (other riders) to see that and if you watch how they (Wiggins and Cavendish) operate in the team, they are exceptionally good riders to have in the team.

"I recall quite vividly in the world championships this year seeing Cav sit down and have a chat with Emily Nelson.

"In her first world championships for an athlete to spend that time chatting with his team-mates, with someone he hasn't previously been a team-mate with, says a lot about the guy I think."

Wiggins had a long and successful track career before leaving it behind in 2009 to focus entirely on road cycling.

He won his first major medal with England at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 before going on to win three Olympic gold and seven world titles on the track.

"Brad's been part of the family and part of the original generation of success going back to the Sydney Olympics where he won a team pursuit medal (bronze) with the guys, so he's always been really close to us," added Dyer.

Cavendish's track career was also successful, teaming up with Wiggins to win world championship gold in in the madison in 2008 and earlier this year, having also won that title with Rob Hayles in 2005.

- 'Natural' -

But he and Wiggins could manage only ninth in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a huge disappointment for Cavendish, who has won 30 Tour de France stages, second only to Belgian legend Eddy Merckx.

"Cav's exactly the same from that point of view," said Dyer. "Cav's done the Olympics with us before so it feels quite natural."

Dyer believes Cavendish is well placed to succeed in the omnium despite managing only sixth at the world championships in London in March.

He is riding the omnium as the madison is no longer an Olympic event.

"If you look at Cav's preparation for the omnium, winning four stages of the Tour de France (in July) is a massive achievement and not something you might normally factor in regular omnium preparation," said Dyer.

"But it does go to show you what kind of shape he's in. It's a fantastic thing and should be really good preparation for him."

Olympic success is the one thing missing from 2011 road race world champion Cavendish's record.

But given his scintillating form at last month's Tour, he looks well placed to consign that statistic to the past.