After producing such a spirited ride in the mountain bike race, it might be possible that Nick Corlett is drafted into the team for the 120-mile men’s road race on Saturday.

A replacement for the injured Mark Cavendish has not been named as yet, and team management said they would only make that call once the track cycling had been completed (involving Matthew Bostock and Matt Draper), which it did on Sunday.

But an on-form Nick Corlett provides a further option - he is, after all, the current Isle of Man road race champion.

The line-up as it stands is Jake Kelly, Nathan Draper, Sam Brand, Tom and Leon Mazzone. Team coach Andrew Roche is positive and said when Cav pulled out that, whilst it was very disappointing not to have him on board, he understood his reason and supported his decision.

’He’s in no state to aim for gold and has to think of his season ahead. We’ve always had a plan B, C and E, it just opens up opportunities for the guys but be assured I still expect a podium. We’ve never had such a strong team, not even close. Once there I’ll look at our game plan but it will be focused on a team effort with a medal up for grabs.

’Apart from the guys, I’m really positive with the girls also. Lizzie [Holden] has had a great race programme so far this season and really looks good for the road race. Together with Anna [Christian] the two of them are up against several big, strong nations with full teams of riders, but we can play that to our advantage.’

The women’s road race starts at 7.45am Saturday, local time in Gold Coast (10.45pm Friday IoM), and the men’s at 12.45pm Saturday in Australia (3.45am IoM).