Mark Cavendish wins British National Road Championship title
- Published
Mark Cavendish has won a record-equalling 34 stages of the Tour de France
Mark Cavendish won his second British National Road Championship title and first since 2013 after edging a three-way sprint to the line.
Cavendish, 37, held off the challenge from under-23 rider Sam Watson and Alex Richardson over the 201km course around Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
He is set to miss the Tour de France with Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl preferring Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen.
Last year he equalled Eddy Merckx's record of 34 Tour de France stage wins.
"I can at least show the reason I am not going on the Tour is not because I have got bad form," he said after crossing the line in Castle Douglas.
Cavendish, who won a 16th Giro d'Italia stage last month, added: "I am going so much better than last year and you know what happened last year [at the Tour].
"I haven't had a call from the team one way or another. I am trying to stay optimistic, I have trained as if I am going on the Tour, my condition is there, I am good enough to go on Tour, I know if I went I would win."
In the women's race, 19-year-old Alice Towers claimed her first road race title with victory one minute and 13 seconds ahead of defending champion Pfeiffer Georgi.
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