Short price on Rogers

There's a lot of talk around the coffee shops in Ballarat on who will take the golden prize in the men's elite road race this Sunday, writes Mike Tomalaris.

There's a lot of talk around the coffee shops here in Ballarat on who will take the golden prize in the men's elite road race this Sunday.

Check out the calibre of rider and it's fair to say it's got to be one of the most open fields Open's 12 year history.

But I'm not so sure.

Personally, I'd say Michael Rogers is the short priced favourite.

I mean everything points to "Dodger" delivering the goods after his disappointment at finishing second around Mount Buninyong last year behind Peter McDonald.

From all accounts Rogers is much lighter than we've come to know him which suggests he's been training the house down - not sure how that's possible in the snow-affected climes of northern Italy where he was up until Christmas.

By not appearing in his pet event - the time trial - last Wednesday, it suggests he's focused only on the the green and gold jersey that comes with the spoils of the road race champion.

Let's face it, Rogers has nothing to prove in the race-against-the-clock. After all, he's a triple world champion and a national champion of his country.

If you look at his career record, it shows it's been several years since he won a stage race - seven years in fact when he took overall honours at the Tour of Germany, his last major victory.

By finishing on the podium in last year's wet and wintry Tour of California he proved he still has what it takes to be competitive a big event, and he was still in the hunt for the Maglia Rosa at the Giro three months later, only to falter in the all-important time trial.

Was that the turning point in his decision to review his career objectives?

At 30, Rogers is at an age where simply relying on the TT for success may be too difficult.

I've got my fingers that all will fall into place in 2010 starting with collecting the national jersey and wearing it with pride on the roads of Europe.