Denis Menchov positive for his eleventh Tour de France appearance
Russian cyclist Denis Menchov is all set to represent his nation at the upcoming Russian National Championships scheduled on June 24th.
The cyclist will return to the event after a log gap of 11 years and is hopeful to ride the Tour de France after winning the national time trial’s jersey at the home event.
"It's been very long since I competed in the National Championships”.
“The last time was in 2001. Since then, a lot has happened but I'm happy to come back to the most important event of my country," Menchov wrote on his F-Sport blog.
Menchov will miss the road race and will only ride the time trial event as he believes that the one-day road format does not suit his capabilities.
The 34-year-old is having a dry season and has not bagged any wins in the season.
His only commendable performance came during the Vuelta a Andalucia where the cyclist finished second during the stage 2 of the race and also managed the fourth overall spot after the overall classifications.
Denis holds as many as nineteen Grand Tour appearances on his resume including three Giro d’Italia, ten Tour de France and six Vuelta a Espana participations to his credit.
He claimed the first overall spot during the 2009 edition of the Giro along with the 2005 and the 2007 versions of the Vuelta a Espana.
The Russian is considered amongst the best climbers and time trialist and a definite overall contender for the Tour de France 2012.
While talking on his Tour preparations, Menchov cited, "It's difficult to say what result I will be able to achieve”
“but I'll do my utmost to fight for the win [in the Russian time trial championship - ed.]”.
“If I can win, the feeling of riding the Tour de France time trials with the Russian champion's jersey will be great".
However, Menchov has experienced numerous hiccups during the first part of the season.
He had to withdraw the Tour de Romandie followed by a 42nd overall spot at the Criterium du Dauphine 2012.
It will be interesting to see if Denis finds the right form ahead of the Tour de France as the biggest cycling gala kicks off on June 30th, 2012.
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