Allan Davis wins men’s road race at the Games
Only hours after his fellow Australian Rochelle Gilmore won the women’s road race, Allan Davis took the other road race gold medal for Australia in Sunday’s race at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games. Davis had come to India from a bronze medal at the World
Road Race Championships on home soil and continued the trend of domination by the Australians in cycling.
The race built up to a sprint finish, which Davis won ahead of New Zealand's Hayden Roulston and Scotland's David Millar. The flat finishing circuit in New Delhi was expected to be Mark Cavendish’s playground, but the Manxman was worn out from the constant
attacks through the day and was in no condition to sprint to the finish.
"It turned out it was me at the end in a group and all the strong nations had two riders each and you can't really compete there,” said Cavendish. “That was difficult. It was like a classic, just wearing down. I'm not used to doing that.”
David McCann of Ireland launched a four-man escape in the final lap with Millar, Roulston and Australia’s Chris Sutton. Davis bridged the gap in the last two kilometres and with the help of his countryman Sutton, had enough of a tactical advantage to take
the win. Cavendish, who never caught the lead group, was 59 seconds behind, but was hugely supportive of Millar’s performance.
"He was incredibly strong,” said Cavendish of Millar. “It'll be two medals, because I'm positive he'll win on Wednesday. He did a great ride and he helped me out a little bit at the end and I'm sorry I didn't have the legs to stay there.”
Millar himself was satisfied with his performance and proud to earn a medal for Scotland, the first ever Commonwealth Games road cycling medal for the nation. He was proud to ride with his countrymen and said they rode as well as his ProTour teammates.
"I haven't raced with such heart and with such passion for a long time. I came here for [Wednesday's] time trial, but I went really deep today, and I'd like to say thank you to Scotland for having me,” said Millar. “I attacked so many times towards the end.
I knew I'd get beaten in a sprint, because I'm not a sprinter, so I just kept trying to whittle down the group and get away on my own. I'm happy with a bronze medal."
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