Swift must wait and hope after missing road to Games

The 24-year-old was included in an initial eight-man list announced last month, but the British Olympic Association announced that he has been dropped from the squad along with Steve Cummings and Jeremy Hunt.

The trio remain on standby and could be required in the event of any illness, injury or loss of form.

British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford said: “The final selection for the men’s road race was a tough choice as we had a really strong squad of riders to pick from.

“We have selected the five riders who we believe are on the best form and will give us the fastest team for the race.

“All the riders selected have a gruelling few weeks coming up, so we’ll be keeping an eye on injury and form. But, for now, I am confident that we have picked the best team for the race.”

Swift was selected to represent Great Britain in the road race at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and in that same year he finished fourth in the World Road Championships.

In 2011, he won two stages of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, but this year saw him switch his focus to track cycling in order to compete for a place at London 2012. In April, he won gold in Melbourne in the scratch race at the UCI Track World Cycling Championships to take the rainbow jersey, as well as claiming second place finishes in both the points race and the madison.

Among the five selected for the Olympic squad for London is David Millar, who served a two-year suspension from 2004 to 2006 after admitting to taking the blood booster EPO.

Since his suspension began just prior to the Athens Olympics, Millar has become a leading campaigner for drug-free sport. He is set to support Mark Cavendish’s bid for Olympic gold in the 250km road race on July 28.

Millar was made eligible for inclusion after the BOA were forced to drop their bylaw banning those with prior doping offences.

Millar, competing in the Tour de France, will take part in his first Olympics since Sydney 2000 and is looking to make up for lost time.

“It means a lot; it’s a lot different for me than other competitors in that it was an event that I wrote off many years ago.

“I’ve already missed two Olympics. The first one I was in a drunken haze and as far away from the world of sport as humanly possible, but in Beijing it was pretty hard to avoid how hard it was not being there.

“It’s exciting. I can start arranging my post-Tour de France now. It’s surreal, really.”

Joining Millar and Cavendish are Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Ian Stannard.