Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) feels he is in great shape heading into the Tour de France, and his performance in the British road race championships in Lincoln on Sunday would certainly to attest to that.
The 2013 national champion, riding solo in a field of four Sky riders, finished second behind Peter Kennaugh after a grueling day of racing that was ignited in the crosswinds as early as 3km in.
Cavendish led over the first of eight ascents of the steep cobbled Michaelgate before doing a great deal of work to bring back the Sky escape duo of Kennaugh and Ian Stannard. Along with another Sky rider, Luke Rowe, he caught them and “tried to emulate Stannard at Het Nieuwsblad” – who won from a break of three Etixx riders – before being outpaced by Kennaugh on the final climb of Michaelgate.
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“I’m super happy. I’m happy with my form and with how it went [today]. I’ve trained hard this year, the team has given me a good programme to prepare for the Tour. I’m up for it.
“This was a good hit-out, I didn’t recover as well from [the Tour de] Suisse as I hoped. I had a bigger week so I didn’t know how it would go today, but I’m glad considering. I’m happy with how I felt today so a week’s recovery now and I should be fine for the first days of the Tour de France.”
That ‘bigger week’ since Suisse was spent on the Isle of Man, where he unexpectedly got dragged into in a local handicap race. Quite what the local amateurs and juniors thought when they saw the 25-time Tour de France stage winner roll up is anyone’s guess, but he decided to get involved before riding home. And just like the nationals, it was hard racing.
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