Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?
It's not immediately apparent, but Mark Cavendish's World Championships victory was underpinned at the Tour of Poland in mid-August. There, in the final throes of the period for qualifying riders for the World Championships, Great Britain managed to bolster their tally of riders for the Worlds from 5 to 8 by virtue of Peter Kennaugh, Steve Cummings and Adam Blythe all scoring World Ranking points. Up to that point, Britain's status amongst the top 10 nations in the rankings was made by points contributions from Ben Swift, David Millar, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and, of course, Cavendish himself.
In Copenhagen for the Road Race Worlds, the team of Cavendish, Wiggins, Millar, Thomas, Cummings along with Vuelta a Espana revelation Chris Froome, reliable domestique Jeremy Hunt and burgeoning Classics specialist Ian Stannard lined up with one plan, and one plan only; bring Mark Cavendish to the finish in a bunch sprint. The expected early breakaway formed in the first hour - it contained riders from Spain and France, but was never a major worry even though it experienced a maximum lead of around eight minutes.
Even during those early laps, it was Britain who were doing much of the pacesetting. There were sporadic contributions from Germany working for Andre Greipel (and even more sporadically from USA for Farrar), but the line of red and blue jerseys were constantly prominent. The first real worry for the British team came earlier than expected, when a dangerous move went clear with over 100km still to race; a move of seven riders containing in its midst Johan Vansummeren, the man who won Paris-Roubaix from a similar breakaway and the Italian Luca Paolini. Still Great Britain worked hard on the front, as commentators, the peloton and half of the Twittersphere raised a collective eyebrow at their tactics.
Theirs was a tactic of containment; not chase down every attack with immediate urgency, but ride a consistently high tempo that discourages attacking riding whilst limiting the deficit to the riders ahead. Chris Froome was a real workhorse, as was Steve Cummings, both riders in form having reached the podium in their tune up races. Froome in particular was seen towards the back with about an hour to go, then astonishingly recovered to do further turns at the front again and even got onto the back of a breakaway move late on, albeit very briefly. A mid-race crash derailed the chances of the defending champion Thor Hushovd, but Norway still had Edvald Boasson Hagen in the lead group, hiding in the wheels alongside all the other sprint favourites; Farrar, Greipel, Sagan, Freire.
As the race wore on, it was apparent that the front straight, and a small climb on the back of the circuit, were the only two places on the lap that could provide the launchpad for an attack. Strong groups went away every time, but the dangerous groups never got a significant gap - no more than a minute or so. Belgium were the chief aggressors - at one point having four riders clear in two different groups - but Italy and certainly Spain were strangely passive, almost handing the race to the British contingent, alongside the Australians who were beginning to mass their troops in the last couple of laps. It would have been easy enough to get a British rider in the break from their front position, and many questioned why they did not do so (as it would put the onus on other teams to chase) but they doggedly stuck to their task, putting their faith in their pace-setting ability.
Although groups were getting away and putting Britain on the defensive, an obvious lack of cohesion in any of the attackers was hampering their efforts.The front group started to attack each other as behind, Lars Bak gave the home fans something to cheer by jumping clear. Then the ever courageous Thomas Voeckler joined the fray inside two laps to go and a break of three formed. Still, however, the team pursuit-like formation of the British team hovered within sight. An Irish jersey - possibly Matt Brammier - was seen towards the front a lap and a half out, a likely alliance in service of the British. Norway provided a helping hand, with two riders setting tempo for Boasson Hagen. Cummings, Froome and Hunt were tailed off, exhausted by the effort of staying on the front for 200km - a supreme job of work done. Cavendish, content to sit in the middle of the bunch early on, was now never less than 10 or 20 places back from the front of the peloton, rarely leaving the wheel of Thomas.
As the bell sounded for the final lap to commence, the expected attacks from the likes of Phillipe Gilbert and Fabian Cancellara never came, as the bunch seemed to be resigned to a bunch sprint. Either that or the presence of a relatively fresh Wiggins smashed the final climb to the bell, setting a savage pace and riding David Millar off his wheel momentarily. Wiggins, who had looked comfortable throughout, single-handedly brought back the breakaway, which had swelled to four with the attack of Johnny Hoogerland. The time trial specialist (who had himself won a silver medal for that event earlier in the week) set the tempo for half a lap, swinging over only when absolutely spent, with the Australian team hovering ominously as the Brits were down to three.
Ian Stannard took over from Wiggins, with Thomas second wheel and Cavendish behind. Six Australians immediately overhauled them, with a fresh Italian team also lined out alongside them. The Spanish team were trying to bring Oscar Freire into the mix. The Germans took a turn on the front. All were looking to get the advantage from essentially being carried the entire race by the British team. Suddenly The British jerseys were no longer visible at the front.
Inside the last two kilometres, Cavendish was about thirty places back. The peloton was fanned out across the road, with no one team in complete control, although the Australians were still well organised in a line. The three remaining Brits were too, to some extent, but squeezed to the right hand side as Stannard sprinted through a gap and tried to bring his two teammates with him. He failed, but deposited Cavendish on the back of the Australian train, who were looking to set up Milan-Sanremo winner Matt Goss. As the race turned the final corner, Stannard was on the front with Thomas still on his wheel, but no Cavendish. His path was cut off but he seemed happy to follow the wheel of Goss. The fact that Goss - normally a teammate of his at HTC-Highroad - has been his leadout man on many occasions (most notably at the Vuelta a Espana) probably influenced this decision, as Thomas swung off looking for his sprinter, but Cavendish remained put.
500 metres to go. The race clock read over 5 and a half hours, but in reality, the culmination of a project going back years was reaching its climax. The best British road squad ever had done its job - delivering Cavendish in an almost ideal position, albeit slightly improvised. As the Australians - still with four riders - started its final leadout, the overhead shot showed Cavendish completely boxed. But the tough uphill finish favoured a rider going late, and when Goss opened his sprint, it also opened the gap for Cavendish to shoot out of the box. He jumped over Goss and got a bike length almost immediately but then the deceptive severity climb started to seep into his legs. Head down, grimacing and pushing for all he was worth, he ground his way to the line as Goss started to close once more.
But it wasn't enough. Cavendish raised his arms in celebration, with Goss in second. Andre Greipel of Germany, a long-time rival and foe of Cavendish, took third and was the first to congratulate the Manxman. Fabian Cancellara had his best ever road race, but failed by a tyre's width to land a medal. A victory for Cavendish, but in reality the whole of the British team should take a bow. Captained by Dave Millar, they bossed the peloton from start to finish, and Cavendish, given the responsibility, didn't dare to fail. 46 years after Tom Simpson wore the rainbow stripes, Mark Cavendish of Great Britain pulled on that famous jersey.
