British men’s road champion Mark Cavendish will not defend his title in Monmouthshire on Sunday due to illness, with the sprinter saying he does not want to jeopardise his chances at the Tour de France, which starts a week on Saturday.
In a statement issued late yesterday evening, Cavendish’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step team said that he is fighting a bout of bronchitis which began during the closing days of the Tour de Suisse last week, and he will continue to train for the Tour de France in Italy.
Cavendish, who won the title for the first time in Glasgow 12 months ago, said: "I'm sad because, as current champion, I would really like to defend the title. I would have liked to honour the race and this jersey that I wore for all of 2014 so far, which allowed me to represent my country proudly.
“I think it's wiser, however, to not take any risks,” he went on, saying that he would “focus on absolute, 100 percent recovery” ahead of the Tour de France, where victory in the opening stage in his mother’s home town of Harrogate, and with it the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey of race leader for the first time, is his major goal for the season.
He added: “I talked with the race organisers and they understood my situation perfectly. I wish them well, and also wish good luck to all riders at the race on Sunday trying to fight for this jersey I've been so proud to wear."
The 2014 National Road Championships begin today with the men’s and women’ time trials, starting and finishing at Celtic Manor, with the road races, which begin and end in Abergavenny, following on Sunday.
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
thanks for the ideas....
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...