Just as he hopes to do a year from now, Mark Cavendish thundered to victory on the streets of London today, taking success in the Olympic test event. Riding in Great Britain team colours, the HTC Highroad rider beat in-form Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF Inox/Italy), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis/France), Stuart O’Grady (Leopard Trek/Australia) and others to the line at the end of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic.
The final sprint was fought off by a reduced number of riders after several others, including Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervélo/USA) crashed in the finale and caused a split.
“The crowd were incredible the whole way,” Cavendish told BBC Sport afterwards. “You can't get a sense of how the 2012 race will go, but you can get a feel for this course and the route is good.”
Almost 150 riders lined out for the race, many of whom will hope to ride in next year’s Olympic Games. The 140 km event began at the Mall and soon after the start, Cleberson Weber (Brazil) plus the Britons Tom Murray (Sigma Sport), Liam Holohan (Team Raleigh) and former national champion Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp) attacked and set about building a maximum six and a half minute lead.
The riders faced two ascents of the tough Box Hill. On the second of those, Weber cracked and went back to the peloton; Murray was dropped soon afterwards, and would also be reeled in. With 30 kilometres to go, the two leaders were just a minute and twenty seconds clear and appearing certain to be caught. Luca Paolini (Katusha/Italy) and Heinrich Haussler (Garmin Cervélo/Australia) tried to get across but didn’t get far.
The final junction to House and Holohan was made with just under ten kilometres remaining. Norway’s Kurt Asle Arvesen (Sky Procycling) then clipped clear but was hauled back by the Great Britain-led peloton. Farrar had punctured and successfully chased back on, but then lost out on his chance when he hit the deck. He was fortunately not badly hurt, but he and others involved were unable to fight it out for the final victory.
Cavendish received a strong leadout from his Great Britain team-mates and was able to get the better of Modolo, Dumoulin, O’Grady and the others.
“It's nice to win but today gives me no indication about what will happen at London 2012,” said Cavendish to Eurosport.
“The difference between the outcome of the race between two laps of Box Hill and nine is huge. This was never going to be a realistic taste of how the Olympic road race will go and we all knew that. I'm just very happy to win and the team did a great job for me. It's a spectacular result for them.”
Prior to the Olympics, he has another major target when he lines out in this year’s world road race championships in Copenhagen. The course is flatter than many in recent years and is predicted to be settled in a big sprint.
Cavendish has won 20 Tour de France stages over the past four years and his success plus advance publicity for the Olympics was chiefly responsible for the massive crowds by the roadside today.