Cavendish's Biggest Road Win in Europe
13th of May, 2006
Our 'Cav' winning a bunch sprint in the Tour of Britain last year showing some of the pros how fast he is. Today, in Germany, he relegated many of the Worlds best Under 23 sprinters to the minor places.
Former World Madison champion on the track, Mark Cavendish (Team Sparkasse), had his biggest win on the road today when he won stage 4 in the 31st Thuringen-Rundfahrt, an Under 23 UCI ranked stage race.
After having won the bunch sprint twice so far in the race, Mark was keen for his and other like minded teams such as Will Walker's Rabobank to keep the stage together and everything went to plan. The team even got a rest from chasing breaks down when one of the Team Sparkasse riders attacked mid stage (70k to go) and built up a lead of four minutes, forcing other teams to do the chasing.
In the closing stages, Mark's GB teammate at Team Sparkasse, Ed Clancy was doing his best to keep the race together for his pal by going away with the late attacks and then, as the finale approached, the Aussie team got their train going for their sprinter Matt Goss and Mark slotted himself in behind.
In the run to the line, Mark made no mistakes as he left the rest standing and proving yet again he's the fastest Under 23 sprinter in the world today. When British Cycling spoke to Mark, he was nonchalant about the victory saying "I've been expecting it all week after winning both bunch sprints easy, but for those there were groups away both times."
"The Aussies chased for the last 20k and it was just a case of me making sure I was up there. The team did well and Ed and Alexander were always there making sure I was up the front. In this sort of racing (amateur) I can go where I want and in the sprint there were the Aussies, me and then I had Matt Goss on my wheel and he didn't come around me."
Mark then told me he still felt a bit flat after having three tapers early in the year (Games, Worlds etc) and he had to 'hoof' his ass over the climbs during the race. "It wasn't flat one bit today - there was an 8k climb at the start - and it's just a case of getting over the hills. I think once I have got some depth on the road, I'll get over them no problem but for the moment I am still struggling."
Thuringen is his second stage race he has done since the Track Worlds and Mark says he needed a mental rest after the all the early season pressure. He was though really looking forward to racing on the road and says that he's in the process of building up his endurance. "I'm not even at 50 per cent of my endurance" he adds. "I'm lucky though because even when I haven't got that, I have got my sprint and I never lose that. I am looking to have the endurance though for when I do the pro races in the summer."
Asked how the support is from his German team, Mark replied "Good. They haven't got the speed the national team have got for a lead out but they are 100 per cent behind me. Ed is always there for me and today made sure I was at the front. He went with groups in the last 10k and he's come on leaps and bounds and can fight to be up there now which is so good. He's an amazing lead out man just because of how fast he can go over 1 or 2k."
Mark also explained that these races do differ a lot from the pro races he has done. "This is savage race, there is never any flat in this race, never, always up and down. And the field, you have the best Under 23's in the World here with Rabobank, the Aussies and so on. It is not as structured as pro racing though and there are stupid attacks going that you don't understand. You can't really read the race because anything can happen. You always need that bit of luck."
There is now one day left in the race, something Mark wasn't aware of and he was looking forward to returning home to do the Rutland-Melton race tomorrow. After the German race through, he intends to continue plugging away with his big goal being the Baby Giro in Italy when he rides with Great Britain. Before that, Mark has a couple of one day races and then the Tour of Berlin which is another goal for him racing as he does for a German team. Best wishes to him and Ed Clancy and we'll catch up with them soon.
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