Despite dreaming of the Olympic gold in omnium, Mark Cavendish refuses to give up on his ambitions lying on the road. Right after his participation in the UCI Track World Cup round held in Hong Kong, the British sprinter travelled to Australia in order to fine-tune his disposition prior to his first appearance in the Dimension Data outfit.

Cavendish focused on a track racing during last winter break to stand a chance of being qualified for the Track World Championships in London, and then, the Olympic Games in Rio. The 30-years old sprinter is aware that lack of endurance training in last months may affect his first appearances on the road, but nonetheless remains optimistic ahead of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

“I’m not coming here just to roll around, it’s not like I’m going to sit up and just roll in. I don’t think I’m going to be dropped on the first lap, which gives me hope that I can at least try and win,” Cavendish said, according to Cyclingnews.

Manxman believes that a support of his in-form and dedicated team-mates will help him get through the first laps of the Milan-Sanremo-style route, and that he will be capable of remaining competitive at the very end of the race.

“We’ve got a strong group of guys here. I think I’m the only one that hasn’t raced in the last week and I think the guys will be in superb form. I’m looking forward to starting my season with them.”

I think the organisers have really done a well thought-out race to kind of keep it close to the final metres. It could be a breakaway, it could be a sprint, but you won’t know. It’s kind of like Milan-San Remo - you won’t know until the final couple of kilometres. It’s quite exciting that.”

Cavendish added that the race is going to be wide open to a fair number of riders, especially pointing to sprinters having the Tour Down Under in their legs.