Briton believes he can fight for gold regardless
HTC Columbia star sprinter Mark Cavendish today rode the circuit of next year’s world road race championships in Copenhagen, and said afterwards that it is tougher than he had expected.
The 25 year old Briton is regarded by many as the fastest pure sprinter in cycling and has outlined winning the worlds as one of the biggest targets of his career. He’s one of the first international riders to comment on next year’s course.
“The route is much easier than in Geelong, but is actually harder than I thought,” he said afterwards to Cyclingworld.dk. “It is technically very difficult.”
Cavendish had hoped to be fighting for gold in this year’s worlds in Geelong, Australia, but was one of many who were shelled on the tougher-than-expected course. And while the 2011 circuit is not as straightforward as he might have been told, he thinks it should be manageable for his characteristics.
“I think it will be a finale with the sprint of a large group,” he said. “With the finish on a hill, it becomes a pure power sprint. It will be one of the most important races for me in 2011 and I will make a huge effort to become world champion.”
Cavendish has had a stunning start to his career, winning fifteen stages in the Tour de France, taking five individual sprint victories in the Giro d’Italia and picking up three stages and the points classification in the Vuelta a España.
He’s also shown his flair for single-day racing, winning Milano-Sanremo in 2009 and the Scheldeprijs the preceding two years.
Apart from testing the course of next year’s worlds, he is also in Denmark to do a charity ride with a group of cancer survivors.