Sprint to Tournai perfect opportunity for lean Cavendish to weigh in with early win

Columnist and Senior Features Writer

Monday 2 July 2012

IF the opening weekend of the Tour de France has shown anything, it is that this is going to be a very interesting journey to Paris.

Kaleidoscopic scenes as the peloton makes its way through Liege yesterday

Custom byline text:

Susan Swarbrick

Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) is in yellow, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) has shown himself to be a serious contender in the points classification and Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) wears, for now, the red-and-white polka dot jersey as overall leader in the mountains classification.

Saturday's prologue time trial proved to be more of a physical than technical test, providing a key early indicator of the form of general classification (GC) riders. Four-time world time-trial champion Cancellara was in blistering form to take the win, with GC favourite Bradley Wiggins (Sky) no slouch either, next to cross the line and just seven seconds down on the Swiss rider. Fellow favourite Cadel Evans (BMC) finished 13th, 17 seconds slower than Cancellara, but only 10 seconds down on Wiggins.Which is just as well, as whoever emerges triumphant in a little under three weeks from now, will need to be as good against the clock as in the mountains, with 100km of time trials in this year's Tour.Yesterday's 198km stage one from Liege to Seraing allowed an early opportunity to stretch the legs, with five fourth-category climbs – as steep as 14% in places – but nothing too testing for cycling's mountain goats.A route through the stomping ground of the formidable Ardennes classics, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, allowed Slovakian champion Sagan to build on his already phenomenal form this season to pip Cancellara and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) to take the stage. A terrific show of strength by Cancellara ensured he retained the maillot jaune, though, a status that he will be aiming to retain for the rest of the week. The coming days bring no real challenges as a far as the mountains are concerned, but certainly some interesting stages to look out for in terms of the green-jersey points classification.Mark Cavendish may have professed that, with Team Sky's resources ploughed into Wiggins' yellow-jersey aspirations, defending the points classification title he won in 2011 isn't a realistic objective, but that does not mean he will not be hungry to add to his tally of 20 Tour stages. The world road-race champion looks leaner than ever, having shed a reported 4kg to improve his power-to-weight ratio not only with the Tour's infamous Alps and Pyrenees climbs in mind, but the nine gruelling laps of Box Hill which lie between him and potential gold in the Olympic road race on July 28.Today's 207.5km stage from Vise to Tournai has sprinter – and the Manxman – written all over it. Skirting close to the famous Paris-Roubaix route, it passes to the south of Brussels before heading into Flanders to finish in Tournai. It is expected that the peloton will pay tribute to the late Wouter Weylandt who had his final victory at the 2010 Circuit Franco-Belge here, before his death at the 2011 Giro d'Italia.For Cavendish, it will not only provide the chance to grab a stage win, but an opportunity to prove wrong those detractors who have suggested his slimmed-down physique may have had an adverse impact on his colossal sprint power. With two previous points classification winners, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Thor Hushovd (BMC), absent from this year's Tour to focus their efforts on a medal in the Olympic road race, there is a clutch of other names who can expect to be in the shake-up for the green jersey.Among them is Sagan who, such is his ferocious appetite to win on his Tour de France debut, has already been gifted Eddy Merckx's old nickname "the Cannibal". Cavendish's old adversary, German Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), is another one to watch, as is Australian Matt Goss (Orica Greenedge) who will have an eye on stage wins and ultimately the points classification title. Don't rule out Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), veteran Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) and German Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) also throwing their hats into the ring for the green jersey.Today marks the final day in Belgium before the race moves to France tomorrow.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Sprint to Tournai perfect opportunity for lean Cavendish to weigh in with early win

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED