Mark Cavendish takes his second British road race title in incredible fashion, but the Manxman’s Tour de France Start is still not confirmed.
It was clear from the start of todays race that Mark Cavendish was a man on a mission, and that the was out to prove a point. The 34x Tour de France Stage winner was on the offense from the early moments of the race, looking for breakaways and actively going on the attack.
We saw Cavendish in the days early breakaway which essentially set such a hard pace that the move forced selection from the front of the race. The group of riders containing Ethan Hayter, and Cavendish would set such a tough pace that riders slowly started coming across from the field. Inside 90km to go the breakaway had grown from 4 to about 20 riders in size.
The attacks from the large breakaway group started, and the group started to widdle down. It was Ineos with Ben Turner and Ethan Hayter that became the key aggressors from the breakaway. Hayter went on a long solo effort, which Turner countered shortly after his teammate was caught by the chase. Cavendish, Richardson, Samuel Watson of FDJ u23, and Matthew Bostock of Sungod Wiv were the only riders that followed the move.
The group of 5 would go on the extend the gap over the chase, slowly going up the road. Unfortunately Bostock would crash out from the lead group as he lost concentration and clipped the wheel in front of him on an uphill. This left 4 riders in the lead group and it was Ben Turner who was the first rider to roll the dice and go on the offense with a heavy attack. However, Turner wouldn’t be strong enough to hold off Watson and Cavendish as the two worked to chase him down.
At the moment Turner was caught by the 3 riders behind Richardson who ad been sitting on the other two chasing riders launched a vicious attack, opening a gap on Cav and Watson but completely dropping Turner. Richardson’s move would be shut down within a few moments, but the lead group was keen to keep it rolling and gap Turner so that they could all battle for a podium position.
Both Watson and Richardson lanced attacks on Cavendish, and tried to get away from one of if not the fastest sprinters in the world before the finale, but their efforts wouldn’t be enough to shake Cav and the group would go into the finale in a 3 up sprint.
In the closing meters, Cavendish was untouchable, easily winning the sprint finish, taking his second British road title.
Cavendish’s incredible performance left everyone in shock as he announced in is post race interview that he had no information in regards to whether he would be racing the Tour de France or not. “I haven’t heard either way.” Cav said to Eurosport after the race. “I figured since it’s unlikely that I’ll race the Tour de France that I might as well use the form here”
“Imagine what it would be to take the 35th Stage win at the Tour in the British Championship Jersey. Those are the photos that live forever” Cavendish went on to say.
We’ll be surprised if Cavendish isn’t selected for the Tour de France in the final moments as Fabio Jakobsen is currently listed on the roster but hasn’t had the season that Cavendish has had this year. Being the reigning green jersey winner, we do suspect that Cavendish will get the nod for the Tour de France after his perform at the British Championships.
More National Championship Results