The Tour of Qatar will provide Mark Cavendish not only with an opportunity to seek his first win in the colours of Dimension Data, but will also serve as a testing ground for the Manxman before he decides on his racing programme for the remainder of the spring.
Cavendish spent much of the winter training on the track in Manchester as part of his bid to compete in the Omnium at the Rio 2016 Olympics. His fourth-place finish at the Hong Kong World Cup last month has ensured that he has met the qualification criteria, but he must still earn selection for the Great Britain team.
The World Track Championships in London next month is expected to be his next major rendezvous on the track, but speaking to reporters in Doha on Sunday, Cavendish said that he will only make a final decision on his participation based on his sensations from this week’s racing in Qatar.
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“I’ve got to get through this race first and then I’ll decide on the Worlds middle of this race,” said Cavendish, who raced at the Dubai Tour last week. “I’ll see how my endurance is. I’ve only done four days in a row. If I don’t hold up after that then obviously my endurance isn’t very good. So I’ll have to see how I go in a few days and make a call then.”
So far, the only certainties on Cavendish’s programme are the Tour de France in July, the World Championships in October and, if selected, the Olympic Games in August. Asked about his likelihood of lining out in some Belgian Classics this Spring, he said: “I’d like to. Obviously we’re not doing Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne this year, so I can’t defend there, but I don’t know my [further] plans until the middle of this week.”
Cavendish combined the Tour de France with competing on the track in the Madison at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but he noted that the demands were now altogether different, with more precise preparation required for the Omnium’s mixture of endurance and sprint events.
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