Following Mark Cavendish’s win at the Tour of Qatar, Ben Swift has said that the Manxman will have a good team to support him for the World Championships, which take place in the same country in October this year.

Swift told skysports.com: "I'm definitely keen to get into that team. To be part of anything like that, where a British rider has got a realistic chance of winning, would be massive. Cav is still one of the fastest riders in the world and he is super-motivated, and with the team that we could field, we can support him really, really well.”

"We would be one of the strongest teams in the race anyway, but especially with the lead-out when you have got guys like Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, myself, Luke Rowe, Alex Dowsett, Steve Cummings. There is a lot of strength in depth there to put a good team together.”

Swift wasn’t part of the team in Copenhagen in 2011, when Cavendish won the last Worlds that ended in a bunch sprint, and he wants to be part of that success this time around.

"Sprint-focused World Championships don't come around often - the last one was Copenhagen - so this year is a big opportunity not just for Cav, but also Britain as a nation."