They are the team-mates who are also rivals. Lizzie Armitstead and Nicole Cooke are vowing to be the lead rider in the Olympic road race, and Armitstead believes that she may have to wait until 48 hours before the start to discover who is the favoured competitor for Team GB.
Armitstead is the strong favourite but she believes that the delicate and potentially contentious choice of leader, and best gold-medal prospect, could be left until a team meeting two days before the women’s road race on July 29, although she remains confident of the outcome. “I just imagine myself crossing the line first and that’s how I look at it now,” she said. The choice of the women’s team is one of a few delicate decisions to be made by the British Cycling selectors who meet next Thursday to consider the squad for the Games.
They have until July 8 to consider the final line-up and while there is the choice of Sir Chris Hoy or Jason Kenny for the men’s sprint and whether to include David Millar in the road race, the make-up of the women’s road-race squad is arguably the most testing.
Armitstead and Cooke fell out bitterly at the World Road Race Championships, when the former accused the latter of riding for herself rather than following team tactics. The row became public and while it has now resumed a respectful rivalry, there is an unmistakable edge.
The women’s squad is due to meet up for a training camp shortly before the British National Championships this month, when the camaraderie, and willingness to ride for each other, could be as telling for the selectors as their respective form.
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Armitstead has shown considerably better results this season than Cooke, who has to convince the selectors that she is willing to be a team player.
To drop the Olympic champion would be an extreme measure, especially given Cooke’s ability to rise to the big occasion, but she is playing catch-up to Armitstead.
“If someone else in the team wins every race between now and then, it will be pretty obvious I will be working for them and they should have that right,” Armitstead said. “I’ll be comfortable with it.
“But I haven’t thought how I would feel with someone else [on the podium]. I’ve talked to a few people about how to approach the Games and I’m just trying to think through positive scenarios. I just imagine myself crossing the line first and that’s how I look at it now. I feel I am in a good position. The ultimate responsibility will lie with Chris Newton, the coach.
“That call will be made really late on, and made on results and form going into the Games. Hopefully, an open and honest conversation a couple of nights before the race in the hotel. We’ll sit down and discuss what our best chance of a medal is and then, hopefully, all get behind one plan. It is a long time to wait. But you can overthink tactics. Obviously it’s a very close race to be the team leader but that’s why the decision needs to be made so late, so it’s based on form at the time.
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“A lot of nations will be looking at Great Britain because we’ve got the most options on that course. I think the people who will be selected are capable of getting a result from any scenario, which is great for the team.”
Six riders must fit into four places and one quartet — Armitstead, Emma Pooley, Lucy Martin and Sharon Laws — have the advantage as team-mates on AA Drink–leontien.nl, the Dutch team. Cooke competes for Faren Honda Team, with Katie Colclough on Team Specialized-lululemon.
On Monday, Armitstead will take a break from intense preparations to ride with more than 5,000 amateurs, covering 52 miles around Manchester in England’s first closed-road mass participation cyclo-sportive.
Retaining her national championship crown looms this month. With the Olympics to come, it is not a time to peak but there is also the issue of protecting her status.
“I’ll have to try to win it tired,” she says. “And I hope Nicole and other team-mates will be doing the same.”
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• Lizzie Armitstead will ride The Great Manchester Cycle on June 4. For event information and how to sign up, go to greatcycle.org