Cavendish focused on Tour, Olympics double

The 26-year-old opened his season account at the Tour of Qatar yesterday winning the third stage in a bunch sprint from current race leader Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Aidis Kruopis (GreenEDGE). The victory doubled as his first in the world champion’s jersey.

Cavendish is so concentrated on his dual goals in July that he does not as yet have a set race program for the second half of the season.

The world champion won his maiden green jersey at the Tour last year and hopes to successfully defend it with new team Sky before six days later vying for London Games gold.

The man Cavendish says he fears most in a bunch sprint - Milan-San Remo champion Matt Goss - is also set to do the double.

The 25-year-old Australian is hopeful of going one better than his second place finish to the Manx Missile at last year’s road world titles should he be selected to lead the five-man national team at the Olympics.

How well a rider recovers from the Tour could be a pivotal factor in performance at the Games with some able to continue in top-shape and others totally exhausted after the three-week spectacle.

Heinrich Haussler - also hopeful of representing Australia in London - is one who will skip the Tour for the latter reason.

Cavendish says his recovery has in the past been dependent on preparation but believes he can carry top form through to July 28.

“I’ve been preparing the last couple of years to specifically win the sprints. I’ve been a bit heavier and it stops my recovery as much but I’m more powerful in the sprint,” Cavendish told journalists at the Ritz-Carlton hotel the day before his stage win.

“This year, it’s about sustainability and working on my endurance. I might not have the top edge in the sprints, but I’ll certainly win a few stages there and hopefully carry on the form for an extra week.

“In 2009 I won a race, okay, it wasn’t the Olympic Games, it was the Bochum Giro but that was one week after the Tour de France and I was in really good form there. If I can emulate that then I should be flying.

“We’ve got a team that can support me on that circuit and we can go in as one of the favourites. After the Olympics I’ll be pretty dead but up until then it will be a busy July.”

The 20-time Tour de France stage winner’s track record since the 2009 Sparkassen Giro Bochum victory is fairly consistent with podium finishes in 2010 post-Tour criteriums and last year a win at the London Games test event that, albeit, fell three weeks after La Grand Boucle.

Goss (GreenEDGE) and Cavendish will go head-to-head for the first time since the world titles at the Tour of Oman later this month and after previously racing as trade teammates for the now defunct HTC-Highroad in 2010-2011.

“Gossy is the only rider that I fear right now in a bunch sprint,” Cavendish said.

“When he’s on form, he’s incredible, he arrives so fresh, he can climb well and he’s clever on the bike.

“I’ve known him a long time, I raced amateur with him. He’s the only guy that I believe can beat me if I don’t make a mistake.

“Renshaw is also clever, in my opinion, he’s the best lead out man in the world,” he added of his renowned former lieutenant who decided to chase his own opportunities with Rabobank this season and is currently racing in Qatar.

Cavendish became the first Briton since Tom Simpson in 1965 to win the rainbow jersey in September and plans to honour the coveted jersey at this year’s titles in the Netherlands.

“It’s not a course that suits me but we’ve definitely got riders in Great Britain who can win on that course so I’d like to maybe do a job there and at least respect the jersey and defend it,” he said.

The Tour of Qatar continues today with stage four - a 144km road race from Al Thakhira to Madinat Al Shamal.

Twitter: @SophieSmith86

Sophie Smith is in Qatar as a guest of Amaury Sport Organisation