Cavendish, the fastest sprinter in the world, is being widely tipped to win Britain's first gold medal at the Games with the men's Olympic road race scheduled to take place on Saturday July 28 on the first day of full competition.

The Olympic road race will start and finish on The Mall in front Buckingham Palace on flat surface that is predicted to suit the 26-year-old Isle of Man rider's feared sprint finish and Brailsford feels that the strength of Britain's road cyclists makes gold a realistic possibility for Cavendish.

"It is always good for me to look and monitor the performances of British riders wherever they are competing and certainly on the road our performances are improving all the time," Brailsford told insidethegames.

"Mark in particular is doing fantastically well.

"Getting the first ever green jersey for a British rider is a fantastic achievement and you just have to take your hat off to him and applaud what he does because he is truly a phenomenal talent.

"He is a super exciting prospect for the very first day of the Olympic Games.

"But behind that, you also have to look at how Bradley Wiggins has improved on the road and also look at the youngsters coming through in the likes of Ben Swift, Peter Kennaugh and Alex Dowsett.

"We really do have a huge amount of talent coming through on the road so that very first day in the London 2012 road race is something we're rubbing our hands at and looking forward to."

Cavendish may join Brailsford (pictured) at Team Sky next season after his team, HTC-Highroad, announced that they are to close after they failed to find a new sponsor.

Neither Cavendish nor Brailsford has confirmed this but the two have more immediate concerns with the London 2012 road race test event set to take place next Sunday (August 14) and act as key preparation for the Olympic event.

Cavendish heads up a five-strong British team at the test event which also features Swift, Kennaugh, Dowsett, Ian Stannard and Roger Hammond.

The five British riders, who are likely to line up in the road race at the London 2012 Olympics, are part of an elite field competing in the test event with a total of 148 of the world's best set to take part in the London-Surrey Cycle Classic.

This includes multiple Tour de France stage winners Tyler Farrar of the United States, Matt Goss of Australia, Silvain Chavanel of France and Davide Appollonio of Italy, all of who are expected to be among Cavendish's biggest challenges for Olympic gold in the road race next year.

The 240 kilometres (150 mile) men's road race will start at The Mall and head past Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, before going through Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham, out to Surrey with a couple of loops around Box Hill before returning into the city via the King's Road.

At the London 2012 Olympics the women's road race, a shorter version at 130km (80 miles), will be held the day after the men's road race on Sunday July 29.

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