It cannot be said that Mark Cavendish has lost his mojo but the small details that fall into place when a sprinter is on top form are not quite panning out as he needs them to. At the Tour de France this July there were too many occasions for his liking when the sprints did not go as he would have wanted and at the end of stage one of the Tour of Britain he was again left frustrated in second place to the Italian Elia Viviani.
On a tricky finish through the streets of Wrexham Cavendish needed a perfect lead-out from his Etixx-Quick Step team, and they set him up well, only for Team Sky’s Italian to pip him at the end, with this year’s Tour de France sprint star André Greipel not far back in third. “When I saw there was 100 metres to go I thought it was too late,” said Viviani. “When I saw Cavendish go in the middle of the road I saw some space, so I went for the line. We were so close, I needed a few metres after the line to realise I had won.”
The margin between the pair after 180km through North Wales was perhaps four centimetres, roughly the width of the deep aerodynamic rims most of the teams were using, but that will be no comfort to Cavendish, who was looking to extend his record haul of Tour of Britain stage wins to 11.
“I was super nervous because the guys reconned it yesterday and said it was sketchy,” said Cavendish, who suspected he had been too pre-occupied with Greipel, the obvious favourite in such a finish. “The last sharp left-hander was a bit technical, the wind was blowing through the buildings in the last straight. I looked over, could sense Greipel there and I think I sensed too much of Greipel.
“If I’d kept the left hand shut maybe I would have got it but I was too concerned with the right and Elia came through on the line. I’m super happy with the team but obviously it’s disappointing not to win. This is the best race to prepare for the worlds; it’s hard, heavy roads, long stages. People come here to prepare for the worlds now. I just hope the organisers keep it like this, and don’t make it crazy, stupid hard.”
Behind the top three Owain Doull of Team Wiggins confirmed the promise he showed last year with fourth place. Like his team leader, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Doull is hoping for a place in next year’s team pursuit squad at the Rio Olympics and a strong week’s racing here will provide the Welshman with the springboard he needs.
This was a classic Tour of Britain opener, with a four-man escape featuring three of the British domestic teams going early in search of points for the subsidiary competitions, including JLT-Condor’s former British road race champion Kristian House, who holds the King of the Mountains jersey, while the young Irishman Conor Dunne leads the sprints on behalf of Sean Kelly’s An Post team. After gaining up to nine minutes on the peloton mid-stage they were brought to heel with a kilometre remaining after Team Sky, Etixx and Greipel’s Lotto squad took control.
