Glasgow - Team England's Bradley Wiggins insists he is fired up for the Commonwealth Games despite having decided to race only one of a possible four events in Glasgow.
Wiggins has become a global star since he last competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, with four Olympic gold medals and victory in the 2012 Tour de France making him arguably the most recognisable face in his sport.
But the controversial decision by Team Sky to stand him down from this year's Tour, combined with a desire to return to the track at the Rio 2016 Olympics, means Wiggins has been fully focused on the velodrome in recent months.
He had initially been mulling over a combined programme of track and road, with the team pursuit, individual pursuit, time-trial and road race all options for him.
But he will only contest the team pursuit in Glasgow, in a bid to prevent spreading himself too thinly.
“The plan was to come in and do pretty much most of the events, (but) with hindsight, I thought just focus on the Olympic event rather than try to be too greedy,” Wiggins said.
“The initial thing, having been away (from the track) for so long, was whether I could still do it straight away. The initial signs were really good and since then I've just been focusing on the team pursuit.
“All the training's been geared up to the team pursuit and trying to break back into that. It's the only Olympic event really that's available to me now, because the individual pursuit has gone.
“I thought I'd put all my eggs into the one I'm going to try and do for the next two years.”
Wiggins explained he had never seriously entertained the idea of combining track and road events having thrown himself firmly into training alongside the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.
“The training for the last four to five weeks has been so concentrated on the track and I don't think I could have done much on the roads,” he said.
“It's one of those ones. It's one or the other, don't underestimate the event and try to do everything or be greedy and thinking you could win everything.”
Sapa-AFP