Mark Cavendish has had great success at the Tour de Switzerland, but this time the British sprinters are mainly trying to build a climbing form for the Tour de France, said Alexander Vijay, team manager at Astana-Kazakhstan. Nokurov says.

Cavendish took the Tour de Switzerland on Sunday along with a variety of key elements of his sprint train, including lead-out men Michael Morkov and Cees Bol

But even with the possibility of a bunch sprint minimal, in an ultra-mountainous eight-day race with only two stages, Astana will be able to win the Tour de Switzerland. I don't expect Britton to be his key target next week.

The Tour de Switzerland starts on Sunday with a 4.7 km time trial.  Stages 2 and 3 could end in a bunch sprint, but Astana have not ruled out going for them at Cavendish, but their flat finish is closely preceded by a cat. There are 3 climbs, the possibility of splitting the peloton. Stages 4 through 8 are all major summit finishes, and Sunday's showdown stage is an uphill time trial.

"Mark is doing very well in training, but the first week of the Tour de France is already very mountainous, so he will be in the form of climbing as good as possible.

"We want the whole tour team to test themselves in the area."

Cavendish and other riders who may have been selected for the tour have just come off a three-week altitude training camp, Vinokourov said, and it is very "they are healthy and motivated and that's the most important thing."

At the Tour de Switzerland, "It would be great if they could get over the climb for the sprint. Otherwise, it's training for the mountains.

"They did a great training camp and in three weeks you'll see the benefits."

Cavendish has taken two victories this year, one early season at the Tour de Honley, and another more recently at the Tour de Honley" and it's great for everyone

Astana-Kazakhstan this week announced that Alexander's son Nicholas Vinok will be in the Tour de Honley. Roff won the U-23TT title at the Asian Road Championship, boosting the team's morale for the crucial summer schedule.

The decisive lineup of the Tour de France team will be decided after the Tour de Switzerland, Vinokourov said. "Certainly there are already 7 guys on the roster, but now it's just a matter of last names.”