Cummings wins National Champs

Form still building after comeback ride

Steve Cummings has warned the Tour de France peloton that he is still far from his devastating best — despite completing a rare double at the National Championships.

The Dimension Data rider won the National Championship time trial on the Isle of Man last Thursday by eight seconds from Alex Dowsett (Movistar) and then followed that up with a solo win in the road race on Sunday.

He became only the first man since David Millar in 2007 — and only the second ever — to complete a National Championships double in the same year; even more remarkable was that it was the Merseysider’s first two races since he fractured his collarbone, sternum and scapula after a crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in early April.

“I’m not in top shape, that’s still to come, and I can get better,” the 36-year-old said. “The top shape will come and I am more confident about that than I was about winning on Sunday.

“I have been on the road [training] for four weeks and did a lot on the turbo. Ideally, I need six to eight weeks from where I was to be in top, top shape.

“I haven’t had that time but it was full concentration for the time I have had — and I’ve done pretty well.”

To get selected for the Tour he had to prove his form in the Isle of Man, and having done so, he claims that there’s still more to come from him as he seeks to win a Tour stage for the third successive year.

“It’ll be nice to be there [at the Tour], to get stuck in. There’s a good prologue and then there’s lots of opportunities for stage hunting,” he said with a smile.

“There are stages I know and stages I will concentrate on. But there a lot of sprints and a lot of stages for GC guys this year, and less medium mountain stages. But there’s still chances.”

The red, white and blue stripes are his first senior national jerseys. “We have had some really good national champions so I would like to do the jerseys proud for everyone and to show them off,” he added.