Britain needs a top ten in the World Tim Trial Championships this afternoon in order to secure two places in the Elite Time Trial for the Rio Olympics next summer. No pressure then Alex Dowsett and Steve Cummings. The latter, who won a Tour de France stage this year, spoke with Cyclingnews about dealing with the pressure of needing a result.

“I’m not saying that that’s my expectation (top ten) but that’s something that I want to try and do. I’ve just finished the Vuelta and I’m feeling pretty tired but we’ll have to just see how I come up on the day. Hopefully I’ll ride well,” said Cummings.

Cummings is very handy against the clock, as he proved in the Vuelta and Tirreno-Adriatico, but he says he hasn’t been targeting the race this season so isn’t necessarily in his best shape.

“This time trial hasn’t been an objective for me this year but having said that, it’s the World time trial championships so it’s always in the back of my mind. Saying that, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be selected, so it’s difficult because you come here and you’re perhaps not 100 per cent but I’m going to give 100 per cent of what I have.”

He and Dowsett have done a few rides of the course and Cummings is hopeful that they can ride the perfect race their country needs them to ride.

“As for me and Alex, we’ve ridden the course twice. It’s without technical difficulty really. There are a few corners but it’s going to be down to pure horsepower and pacing strategy. Hopefully I’ve just got enough. I finished the Vuelta, I had Monday and Tuesday off. Then I did two hours of Wednesday, four hours on Thursday and then flew here on Friday. That was all without intensity and then on Tuesday I did a little bit of intensity, with around 10 minutes at race pace.”