Cavendish Sprints into the Rainbow Jersey and World Championship Title
9/25/11 - Mark Cavendish secured a world championship title for Great Britiain on Sunday and the third gold medal this week for HTC-Highroad. HTC-Highroad finished the week with five medals including gold for Tony Martin and Judith Arndt in the time trial events; Silver for Matt Goss and Bronze for Ina-Yoko Teutenberg in the road race.
After a fast race, with Great Britain spending the majority of the day controlling the peloton to reel in the break, Cavendish was delivered in good position to the final straight. He was challenged by HTC-Highroad teammate Goss in the final meters, but was able to hold them off to take his first ever world road title. Former Highroad rider Andre Greipel took the bronze medal.
"I'm really proud," said Cavendish after the race. "This has been a three year project for us. Ever since the course was announced we have been preparing for this."
"Not just me but all the guys who rode so well today and others committed to making sure we qualify a good team. A World title is something special and I'm going to wear the rainbow jersey with pride over the next year."
Farrar Gets Top-10 Finish
Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Cervelo) gave the United States its first top 10 finish in the elite men’s road race in nearly 10 years, finishing 10th on Sunday in Copenhagen. Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing) who helped lead out America’s top sprinter crossed the line in 24th place.
The 266-kilometer elite men’s affair seemed destined to come down to a sprint and, despite a late-race crash that split the field, Farrar remained in position to contend for the title. Farrar’s 10th place did give the U.S. its first top 10 finish since Chris Horner finished eighth in Verona in 2004.
“I was motivated for this Worlds,” said Farrar. “The guys did everything they could to help me. I tried in the sprint, but we made some tactical errors and I got boxed in.”
On the final of 17 laps around the 14-kilometer circuit in Rudersdal, Farrar and Phinney began to organize near the front of the race. Heading into the final turn however the pair got separated leaving Farrar on his own for the long, uphill sprint to the finish.
“I was up at the front the last few laps trying stay out of trouble,” explained Phinney. “I was trying to help Tyler at the finish. Unfortunately going into the last corner we got separated and he ended up on the left side and I ended up on the right. I was trying to get to him, but I think he got sort of boxed in. It is hard not riding together all the time; we’re still trying to get to know each other’s strengths, but I think Tyler and I have a bright future going forward.”
First-year pro Benjamin King (North Garden, Va./Team Radio Shack) spent much of the race’s early-going from the Copenhagen town center to the circuits in Rudersdal on the front of the pack. An early break was able to get more than five minutes on the field before a strong break group went in pursuit mid-way through.
With around five laps to go a crash took out 15 riders and stalled as many more, including American Andrew Talansky (Napa, Calif./Garmin-Cervelo) who was forced to abandon. Despite some confusion, Talanksy was the only U.S. rider affected by the crash.
“John and I were the last two guys through; threaded the needle and looked back and there was no one behind us,” explained Brent Bookwalter. “We heard over the loudspeaker that Tyler went down in the crash, but we could see him so we knew he wasn’t down.”
With no Brits represented in the break, the chase was on and American Timmy Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Liquigas-Cannondale) went up to help reel it back. The group was caught on the final lap setting up the dramatic sprint to the finish in front of the estimated 250,000 fans.
Brent Bookwalter (Athens, Ga./BMC Racing) finished 65th in his first world championships as an elite as did King in 94th. Road race national champion Matthew Busche (Wauwatosa, WI/Team Radio Shack) finished in a second group a few minutes back as did Murphy, Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC Racing) and Duggan.
COMPLETE RESULTS <>
2011 UCI Road World Championships
Copenhagen, Denmark
September 19–25, 2011
Elite Men’s 266-kilometer Road Race
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) 5:40:27
2. Matt Goss (AUS) “
3. Andre Greipel (GER) “
10. Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Cervelo) “
24. Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing) “
65. Brent Bookwalter (Athens, Ga./BMC Racing) “
94. Benjamin King (North Garden, Va./Team Radio Shack) 5:40:46
157. Matthew Busche (Wauwatosa, WI/Team Radio Shack) 5:49:21
167. John Murphy (Athens, Ga./BMC Racing) “
173. Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC Racing) “
174. Timmy Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Liquigas-Cannondale) “
DNF Andrew Talansky (Napa, Calif./Garmin-Cervelo)
