British Cycling are confident of resolving the leadership battle between Olympic champion Nicole Cooke and Lizzie Armitstead which threatens to undermine Great Britain’s women in their London 2012 road race campaign.

While world champion Mark Cavendish is the undisputed leader of the men’s squad and will ride for gold on the opening day of the Games, July 28, Cooke and Armitstead are vying for the support of their team-mates in the women’s event, which takes place 24 hours later.

Armitstead hopes she will get the nod after being the nominated leader for September’s World Championships in Copenhagen, where she was held up in a late crash, recovering to finish seventh, while Cooke placed fourth.

Following the race, Armitstead confronted the issue.

She said: “I said exactly how I felt. And I’m really happy I did, because it’s been an unspoken situation for too long.

“It needed to be out there. Someone needed to be honest about what was going on and why we didn’t win a medal when we were capable of doing it. I was really disappointed.

“I had support in that meeting. It was a unanimous decision that Nicole didn’t do her job properly.”

And the 22-year-old from Otley remains frustrated by events in Denmark, saying that Cooke rode “for herself”, adding: “I’ve never seen her work for a team-mate.”

The issue was discussed at the race debrief but Cooke insisted she obeyed tactical instruction, only going it alone after believing Armitstead’s chances had gone.

Cooke said: “I’ll ride for whoever the leader is.”

British Cycling performance manager Shane Sutton has often been the man to turn to when a challenge presents itself and the straight-talking Australian is certain the scenario can be resolved.

Sutton, who was present at the meeting in Copenhagen, anticipates the 140-kilometre road race will finish on The Mall in a bunch sprint.

On present form, that means Armitstead should be leader and Cooke, who won gold in Beijing in 2008, must be persuaded to ride in support.

Sutton said: “I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to deal with this one. For my money it will come down to a gallop and at this moment in time Lizzie’s our big hope.

“And I do believe they have the capability of doing it (performing as a team and winning).”

He added: “There’s no question in my mind that the fastest girl in GB at the moment is Lizzie by a long shot.

“I think Lizzie’s ready to step up, given her results.

“She’s capable of winning and she’s probably our best chance, at this moment in time, of retaining the Olympic women’s road race.”