Steve Cummings is a versatile rider who enjoyed great success - including an Olympic silver medal, and world championship gold - with the British track team before turning his full attention to road racing.

In 2007 he signed with the team part-owned by Lance Armstrong, Discovery Channel. But his best season on the road came the following year when, with Barloworld, he finished second overall in two big stage races, the Tour of Denmark and Tour of Britain.

Now, with Team Sky, Cummings is hoping to further establish himself on the road - and to ride his first Tour de France. "It takes time to switch from the track to the road," he says of his move, which he made following the 2006 season. "You have to change your physique a bit, and it takes time to develop.

"But I enjoy road racing more. I love the freedom of it. It feels healthy and clean and you see places."

His experience of being in a team like Discovery Channel - which in 2007 included that year's Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador - was an eye-opener for Cummings, but he reckons Team Sky is "a step up". He explains: "At the time they were the best in the world in terms of attention to detail, but this is a step up again - it's more advanced. They want to go that little step further for every rider, to make all of us better."

Having spent his formative years with the British squad Cummings knows many of the coaching staff, and riders such as Geraint Thomas, who was also a team-mate at Barloworld. He enjoys the sense of familiarity, but remains focused on his ambitions. "My first goal is to get in the Tour de France team," he says. "All the guys are wanting to do that, so it'll be tough. In the races I've got before the Tour I need to prove I can play a role for the team."