World's Best Sprinter Headlines Championship Line-up

Story Posted June 8, 2009

Event Press Release

Britain's hottest cycling property, Mark Cavendish, will ride this month's British Cycling Road Race Championships at Abergavenny and his confirmation completes the best field ever assembled for the coveted British jersey. Cavendish, 23, joins a line-up which is littered with Olympic Games gold, silver and bronze medalists, Tour de France riders and previous national champions who will take on the challenging 160 kilometre course on Sunday June 28 around roads of Monmouthshire.

The Isle of Man rider shot to fame last year when he became the first Briton to win four stages of the Tour de France and the Columbia-High Road star has shone again in 2009 by winning the classic momument Milan-SanRemo race, which he described as 'the most beautiful day of my life', in March before taking two stage wins in the classic Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) last month.

Cavendish joins Olympic gold medalists Geraint Thomas, a long-time friend of the Manx man and hoping to win the Nationals for the first time on home soil, plus legendary double track gold medalist Bradley Wiggins in the line-up. Also expected to ride is Tour de France stage winner David Millar who won the National Championships over the Abergavenny course in 2007, Sydney Olympics bronze medalist and defending British champion Rob Hayles, and Athens Olympics bronze medalist Chris Newton.

Double former national king Roger Hammond, winner in Newport in 2003 and 2004, plus the man who succeeded him in 2005, Sheffield's Russell Downing, who also swept all before him last summer on the domestic road scene, are on the starting list.

Cavendish, speaking to Cycling Weekly last week, thinks he will be up against it to win a title that still eludes him as he will have to do it alone while other rivals will ride with their teams and target him. Cavendish said: "Strength-wise, I could do something. There'll be a load of Cervelos, a load of Raphas, a load of Plowman Cravens and they'll jump on my back wheel. The thing is, it's got to be in someone's interests to let me get in a break. Surely they want me to be doing as much work as possible, so why not let me go in a break and try to beat me that way?"

"Why chase me down and then watch others go up the road? It'll be even harder than last year because I won't even have a team-mate, but it's nice to ride.

I know I can't get a result but I still want to ride it because everyone is coming back and it's the National Championships."

Geraint Thomas (above) thinks Cavendish is being hard on himself and that he will be right in the mix. The Cardiff-born 23-year-old Team Pursuit gold medalist in Beijing last August said: "people like Cavendish, Wiggins and Millar will be super-motivated - and you have the GB academy as well. So I think it will just be a super-hard and fantastic race."

And, with reigning Olympic Games and world champion Nicole Cooke defending her women's national crown the previous day plus the Junior Championships being staged on the same weekend for the first time, Abergavenny Festival of Cycling organiser Bill Owen is delighted. Owen said "These are, without doubt, the best fields ever assembled for the National Championships. The men's race is wide open and I really do not know who is going to win it. To have Mark Cavendish entering just completes a sensational line-up. The course has numerous different elements which will test riders across the board so there is no obvious favourite."

"And, with the finish line in the centre of Abergavenny, it would be one of the best sporting moments in the town's history should we witness a combination of Cavendish, Wiggins, Millar, Thomas, Downing, Hayles, Newton and Hammond - or all of them at once - charging to the line in a real Tour de France-style sprint finish. I have been involved in cycling for over 40 years and I cannot think, in all that time, that the National Championships men's race has had such a incredible line-up. It is all set for an outstanding weekend."

For further information about the 2009 Abergavenny Festival of Cycling, which includes the two-day Iron Mountain Sportif, on June 20-21, the Get Connected! Welsh Open Critierium on Friday June 26, and all three National Championships, click on www.abergavennyfestivalofcycling.co.uk

Any media requiring more details and accreditation to the 2009 Abergavenny Festival of Cycling, which includes the Get Connected! Welsh Open Critierium on Friday June 26, and all three National Championships, please contact Gary Baker, Wales and West Media, on garybaker@walesandwest.com.

Past National Championships winners (since 1996)

Mens

1996 - Dave Rand
1997 - Jeremy Hunt
1998 - Matt Stephens
1999 - John Tanner
2000 - John Tanner
2001 - Jeremy Hunt
2002 - Julian Winn
2003 - Roger Hammond (staged in and around Newport, Gwent))
2004 - Roger Hammond (staged in and around Newport, Gwent)
2005 - Russell Downing
2006 - Hamish Haynes (Wales' Geraint Thomas was third)
2007 - David Millar (staged as part of the Abergavenny Festival of Cycling)
2008 - Rob Hayles

Women

1996 - Maria Lawrence
1997 - Maria Lawrence
1998 - Megan Hughes
1999 - Nicole Cooke
2000 - Caris Gilfillan
2001 - Nicole Cooke
2002- Nicole Cooke
2003- Nicole Cooke (staged in and around Newport, Gwent)
2004- Nicole Cooke (staged in and around Newport, Gwent)
2005- Nicole Cooke
2006- Nicole Cooke
2007- Nicole Cooke
2008- Nicole Cooke