British Cycling's director of performance, Dave Brailsford, has outlined plans for an overall British win in the Tour de France.

Brailsford has accelerated by two years his project to establish a British men's professional team, and now aims for a place in the 2010 Tour.

From there he anticipates delivering a British winner "in the medium term".

"There's a couple of candidates who we feel have the capability [to win the Tour de France]," he said.

Brailsford masterminded Britain's nine gold medals at the track cycling world championships in March this year, and followed that up with three gold medals at last weekend's mountain bike worlds.

And he intends to apply the same rigour and attention to detail he uses in those cycling disciplines to deliver success on the road.

"The next phase for us is to keep on growing, and establish a British road team," said Brailsford.

"We have a coaching methodology, there's a certain ethos that we work to, and to be able to embrace that and implant it onto a road team under the same umbrella as the Great Britain cycling team is a pretty exciting project."