CAV SET FOR THE ROAD TO CARDIFF
SPRINT king Mark Cavendish will line-up against Geraint Thomas at the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, which finishes in Cardiff a week on Sunday.
The ‘Manx Missile’ has won a staggering 30 Tour de France stages but crashed out of this year’s race after fracturing his right shoulder blade following a tangle with world champion, Peter Sagan, during the stage four finish.
Former world champion and Olympic medallist Cavendish will use the week-long Tour of Britain, which starts in Glasgow on Sunday, to find his racing legs but will be a hot favourite for the big finale in Cardiff.
His Dimension Data team has won the last two editions of the race with Steve Cummings claiming top honours last year and Edvald Boasson Hagen in 2015.
“It is great to be heading back to the OVO Energy Tour of Britain this week. As this event has grown in stature year on year, so has our team and the last two years in particular were fantastic for us,” said Dimension Data sports director Roger Hammond.
“We always receive a huge amount of support in the UK for the team. The Tour of Britain is a very special and key event for our team.
“We will be looking to put on a good show once again. We always start a race with the goal to win and this year’s Tour of Britain will be no different.”
Norwegian star Boasson Hagen, who won a stage of this year’s Tour de France, Mark Renshaw, Bernhard Eisel, Jay Thomson and Scott Thwaites will accompany Cavendish.
Thomas, who became the first Welshman to lead the Tour de France after pedalling to victory in this year’s opening stage, was lying second overall when he suffered a high-spend crash descending a mountain, being forced to abandon with a broken collarbone.
The twice Olympic gold medallist and Commonwealth Games king Thomas had surgery on the injury and is using the Tour of Britain to hone his form and fitness ready for next month’s World Road Championships in Norway.
It will be his first appearance in the race around British since he won the Points Classification six years ago.
Owain Doull, who comes from Cardiff and was a gold medallist in the men’s team pursuit on the track at last year’s Rio Olympics, joins Thomas in the Team Sky line-up.
Doull finished third overall and won its Points Classification two years ago. Doull and Thomas will provide backing for 2014 world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, the Pole who has won a number of major races this year, in the Sky team.
It will be the first time the final stage of the race, which includes Sir Bradley Wiggins among its past winners, has finished in Wales with three laps of a city centre circuit in Cardiff.