THE postponement of the Olympics has not deterred Simon Yates from a lifelong ambition.

Bury’s cycling star had his sights firmly set on success in Tokyo this year only for the Games to be one of the high-profile events put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan’s turn to be the centre of the sporting world will now come in 2021 but for the Mitchelton–Scott man that matters not with the road race still firmly on his agenda.

Some observers think the Tokyo course is right up Yates’ street with it on paper appearing to favour climbers or those who could win in a breakaway.

“It’s one of my main goals, not just for next year but for my whole career,” the 27-year-old said.

“I have a lot of passion for that, I grew up wanting to be Olympic champ so the passion’s still there and now we have to wait another year to really have a crack.”

As for what 2020 holds for the former Bury Clarion man, that remains to be seen.

Having been on lockdown at his Andorra home, attentions will soon turn to the Grand Tours. The rescheduled Tour de France is set to start on August 29, the Giro d’Italia at the start of October with the Vuelta a Espana in part overlapping as that begins later in the same month.

“I think when racing does start again that’s everybody’s chance to win,” said Yates, the 2018 Vuelta champion who also has top-10 finishes in France and Italy on his CV.

“We’ve not had many chances to race, some people try and peak for different times of the year normally but you know this year it’s going to be really concentrated into one part of the year so all the riders are going to be ready to go, extremely motivated to try and win, and that’s another reason why I think it’s just going to be a very intense period of racing.

“Normally the Grand Tours are extremely physical on their own. When I’d do a Giro-Vuelta programme you’d have months to recover before you do the next one, but here they’re going to be back-to-back almost. It could have a big effect, I think it really depends what the other riders have been doing.”