Prince Charles greets road race peloton

The Prince of Wales shares a joke with Head of the IMF Christine Lagarde during a reception, hosted by Britain’s Prince Charles, at Clarence House in London for the delegates of the Global Investment Conference, Thursday, July 26, 2012. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, is hosting the reception on the eve of the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics Games. AP/Chris Jackson

LONDON—Prince Charles added a touch of royal glamour to the start of the men’s Olympic road race Saturday when he attended the start line to greet the peloton.

Prince Charles was accompanid by his wife Camilla at the start of the 250km race for which Britain’s world champion Mark Cavendish is the hot favourite.

The Isle of Man rider will be supported by David Millar, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Ian Stannard, the national champion.

With the exception of Stannard, all of Britain’s five riders won stages at the Tour de France, where Wiggins claimed an historic yellow jersey triumph last Sunday.

They are expected to provide crucial support for Cavendish throughout the race, especially over the nine laps of a circuit which includes the climb of Box Hill.

Cavendish said: “If it goes to a sprint I’m not worried about it at all. I’m flying at the moment. It’s just whether we can control the race and not let a breakaway smash it on the hills.”

Among Cavendish’s big challengers will be Slovakian Peter Sagan, Australian Matt Goss, Belgians Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen, Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez, Swiss Fabian Cancellara and German Andre Greipel.

If successful, Cavendish would succeed Spain’s Samuel Sanchez to become Britain’s first Olympic men’s road race champion.