Austrian out of the Vuelta early, can only hope for Tour of Britain start to prepare for Worlds
Bernhard Eisel's withdrawal from the Vuelta on Tuesday's difficult Stage 4 was an abandon with lasting implications, both personally and for his HTC-Columbia team.
The immediate effect was seen today in the finale in Lorca. Super sprinter Mark Cavendish was left isolated in the final half kilometer and ended up going at a point where normally his final leadout man would go - usually Mark Renshaw, or in the case of this year's Vuelta, Matthew Goss.
Unfortunately for Cavendish, Renshaw is racing the Tour of Britain soon, Goss was lost to a mechanical with 5k to go, and the other man perfectly suited for the job, Bernhard Eisel, was on his way home following his abandonment the day before, leaving Cavendish with only one option: go early. The end result was another disappointing finish.
More importantly for Bernhard Eisel, however, is the status of the Steiermark rider's own health. Eisel's withdrawal from the year's final Grand Tour was no whimsical decision - the Austrian winner of this year's Gent-Wevelgem is suffering from a virus that has laid him low enough to bring his World Championship participation into doubt. The Vuelta was supposed to form the ideal foundation for a World Championships that could have seen the Classics specialist and speedy finisher in with a legitimate chance at the Rainbow Jersey, especially considering his pedigree in the one day classics - this year's Gent-Wevelgem comes to mind.
Eisel's health is lacking at the moment, but he hopes to return to racing soon. The earliest and most ideal race for him to return would be the Tour of Britain, which starts in just over a week on the 11th of September. If it were any other race at any other time in the year, it wouldn't be a big deal, but two races have taken on huge importance this fall as preparation for the Australian World: the Vuelta and the Tour of Britain. HTC-Columbia already has a solid line-up of riders for the Tour of Britain with most all of them heading to Worlds afterwards (Grabsch, Greipel, Martin, Pinotti, Renshaw, Rogers). It looks difficult at best for Eisel to find his way onto the Britain team, which leaves Eisel in a position similar to his teammate, Maxime Monfort, a few weeks ago.
After not being selected for either the Vuelta or Britain teams, Monfort called his Worlds participation off and said that his form could not be good enough to compete at the appropriate level in Australia. Eisel looks set to do the same.
"Without races to prepare for the World Championships, it just doesn't make sense," said the Austrian with the Australian accent to LAOLA1.at.
Eisel is resolute in his decision and feels that without a start at Britain, the necessary form just won't be possible to attain, and without that form, his season is over.
"Without the form I need, I will not go to the World Championships."