Armitstead hopes men's success can be replicated in women's cycling

[divingbrit]

Sky's the limit: Armitstead hopes men's success can be replicated in women's cycling
Olympic road race favourite Lizzie Armitstead hopes it is only a matter of time until Team Sky venture into women's cycling.

The BSkyB-backed outfit entered the sport in 2010 to finally give Britain a team presence on the professional circuit.

As well as raising the profile of cycling in the United Kingdom, Team Sky has formed a nucleus of British talent under general manager and Great Britain boss Dave Brailsford, helping to foster a team spirit among the likes of Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas which can be beneficial at Olympic level.

Yorkshirewoman Armitstead - who has been tipped for glory in the road race at this summer's London Olympics - has recently been forced to switch teams to join the Dutch outfit AA Drink-Leontien.nl due to funding issues with her former employer Garmin Cervelo.

And the 22-year-old believes it would make sense all round for Team Sky to replicate their support for men's cycling in the women's field.

She said: 'It's the 21st century, so why not?

'Cycling, like any sport, is full of rumours and you never know until you get a contract offer, so the honest answer is 'I don't know' if they will get into women's cycling. I don't know what's going to happen.

'I think there should be a women's Sky team and I think there probably will be, but it's a case of when.

'Why wouldn't they? I don't know the answer to that. To run a women's professional team requires so much less of a budget than a men's team but I don't want to be in a team where the managers are not passionate about that team and just doing it because feel they have to.

'I want to be in a team where managers are really passionate.

'If we win gold again this summer that is then two British female Olympic champions but no British team.'

There seems to be every chance of that gold medal coming as Armitstead battles to lead the four-woman British team in London this year.

The weight of expectation and pressure of competing in her home Games is intense enough, but Armitstead must also deal with the interest in her fight with rival Nicole Cooke to lead the team in London.

The two share a frosty relationship, exposed by Armitstead's well-publicised criticism of the 2008 Olympic gold-medallist, who she accused of riding selfishly at last year's World Championships.

Rivalry aside, Armitstead has enough faith in her own ability to believe she can lead the British team and give herself a chance of winning gold.

'Of course there is always going to be lots of talking and media attention on who leads the team," she admitted.

'But I know that if my legs are the best and if I'm strongest, there doesn't need to be any talking.

'So it's simple really.'

Armitstead professes to be a fan of the Olympic road race route but revealed she will not excessively practice on the course.

'I don't think I'll ride the Olympic course that much,' she explained.

'I'll watch it a lot on DVD but riding it won't make too much difference. I've ridden it once and have got a very clear memory of what it was like so that will be enough, I think.

'I love it. I really love it. It's really hard.

'I think the foreign competitors will find it quite difficult, because it's really heavy and soggy, a typical British road, so the Italians, coming off their nice, slick tarmac roads, might find it a bit difficult.'

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