He’s gone close with second on a stage of the Santos Tour Down Under and third and fourth on stages in the Tour of Qatar but for Mark Renshaw, his first season as a leader is yet to yield a victory.
Mark Cavendish’s former right hand man moved to Rabobank over the winter, feeling it was time to step out from a supporting role and to deliver on his own sprinting ability.
Today, the Australian started the Presidential Tour of Turkey with a clear goal in mind.
“It is difficult to win races. That is the objective, obviously, and I haven’t managed to do that yet,” he told VeloNation in a video interview carried out at yesterday evening’s team presentation in Alanya. “But hopefully I will get some good opportunities here in Turkey and then after that in the Giro.”
Renshaw has previously clocked up some very solid results, including a stage plus overall victory in the 2011 Tour of Qatar, stage victories in the Santos Tour Down Under plus others in the Tours of Britain and Denmark. His palmares also includes two runner-up slots behind Cavendish at the Tour de France.
Conclusion: he’s physically and mentally able to hit the line first, and therefore should be able to do the same with Rabobank. However he feels there is a logical reason why it hasn’t yet happened this year. “This is a learning curve for me…changing teams always takes a bit of time to adjust,” he explained.
“I’ve changed everything…I changed my role, changed teams, changed bikes. It takes a while for everything to happen.”
Things could take a winning turn over the next few days. He’s riding in Turkey with Theo Bos, Jetse Bo, Graeme Brown, Tom Leezer, Jos Van Emden, Dennis Van Winden and Coen Vermeltfoort.
Each of those are powerful riders and with the right composition to the squad, he’s optimistic. “I think this is the first team where we have a strong team to do the leadout. Up until now, we have tried to compromise but it doesn’t work,” he said.
Click on the video below to watch the interview with Renshaw and hear his thoughts about the increasingly-prestigious 2.HC-ranked race, who he feels his main rivals will be and also his main goals this season.
More videos, news and reports from the Presidential Tour of Turkey will appear on VeloNation in the days ahead.