The international cycling body, the UCI, also announced that two members of the squad will ride the men's London 2012 Olympic time trial event three days later.

The news follows a hugely successful season on the road for British riders, which culminated in Mark Cavendish's (pictured) World Championship win in Copenhagen last month.

Dave Brailsford, British Cycling's performance director, said: "This is a very satisfying achievement for us and the contribution of all the riders and the support team has been fantastic.

"Our progress over the past 12 months in particular has been good, meaning we have been able to steadily build up Olympic qualification points and achieve the aim of taking a full squad to the Games."

British Cycling's chief executive Ian Drake said: "We're obviously delighted at the news and I'd like to congratulate Dave [Brailsford] and his team for all their hard work in making this happen.

"This achievement shouldn't be underestimated in what is an extremely competitive environment.

"We have said all along that the creation of Team Sky would boost our Olympic preparations and this really brings it home as a reality.

"That will never be so important as in the immediate run-up to the Games, and everyone at both British Cycling and Team Sky is fully committed to ensuring our riders hit the start line on The Mall in the best possible shape."

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