Mark Cavendish has refused to rule out the possibility of completing this year's Tour de France before heading to Rio in pursuit of an elusive Olympic gold.

Cavendish, who has a property in Ongar, has been selected to compete in both the omnium and the team pursuit in Brazil despite fears over his exhaustive summer schedule.

The 31-year-old, who has won 26 Tour stages in his career, says he has no plans to leave Paris early for extra preparation time alongside his team pursuit colleagues.

Cavendish, who could have just 18 days before the end of the Tour and the start of his Olympic programme, said: "I aim to go to Paris and I will see what happens.

"Don't get me wrong, last year the last few days were so crazy-hard and I was in bed for four days afterwards. I can't really afford that before the Olympics so we'll take every day as it comes. But I don't have a plan to stop the tour."

The Manxman missed out on a medal in Beijing in 2008 despite abandoning the Tour after the 14th stage, when he and team-mate Sir Bradley Wiggins finished a disappointing ninth in the Madison.

And four years ago in London, Cavendish was once again disappointed when he finished well outside the medals in the men's road race.

Cavendish added: "Olympic gold is one thing left - I've tried it twice and I was in superb form on both days and they just eluded me.

"I'm proudly patriotic and I love every time I get to pull on the Great Britain jersey and the Olympics is the biggest thing I can do. I wouldn't have done it unless I thought I could medal in my two events."

Although the selection of Cavendish for the team pursuit is regarded as controversial in some quarters, he is likely to play the role of 'fifth man' and possibly only appear as a tactical switch for the semi-finals.

And his plan has been met with the approval of British Cycling head coach Iain Dyer, who believes the Tour can act as a springboard for Cavendish to hit the Rio Olympics in top form.

Asked if Cavendish can do both, Dyer said: "Without question - if you look at Cav's form throughout the winter and the process he's gone through to be competitive in the omnium and gain selection.

"Cav basically thrives off being really fit and sharp and he is better off on the track as a function of that. The last month or two in training has been a really graphic illustration of that connection."