LAST week Mark Renshaw was delighted when he was announced as part of the Australian cycling team to compete at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, but this week his focus lies in Switzerland, not Scotland.

Renshaw is currently competing in the Tour de Suisse, a nine-stage event which acts as a build up to next month’s Tour de France for many teams.

The Bathurst talent is riding as part of the lead out train for Omega Pharma-QuickStep, who have targeted the sprint stages with Mark Cavendish and are pushing for an overall win with Tony Martin.

After five stages the team have the general classification lead thanks to Martin, while Cavendish boasts a win on stage four.

The man known as the ‘Manx Missile’ was also in a good position to strike on stage five before he was dragged down in a crash.

On both occasions Renshaw was doing the job team officials signed him up for – positioning himself near the head of the peloton in the final kilometres and giving Cavendish a wheel from which to launch.

That is a good sign as he presses for a Tour de France ride, but Australian cycling officials will no doubt be pleased as well. 

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games will signal a career first for Renshaw on August 3 as he tackles the men’s road race.

He has only ever ridden track events for his country before.

“I am very proud to be selected for Australia’s Commonwealth Games team for Glasgow. Looking forward to representing Australia again and first time on the road,” Renshaw tweeted earlier this month.

After facing what he called a ‘filthy hard stage’ in the opening days of the Tour de Sussie, the past two days have been suited to the sprinters like Renshaw.

The fourth stage was a 160 kilometre leg from Heiden to Ossingen and it was the proven combination of Renshaw and Cavendish that came up trumps.

A two-man break involving Daniel Teklehaimanot and Laurens De Vreese got away, but their advantage never really bothered the chasing peloton.

oomed and while Giant-Shimano tried to upset the QuickStep team, it was not to be the case. 

When their rider Luka Mezgec pulled off the front, it was not his team-mate John Degenkolb behind him but Renshaw.

Cavendish then did the rest, taking the win in a time of three hours, 35 minutes and three seconds some three bike lengths ahead of Juan Jose Lobalo (Movistar) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

“It wasn’t so easy, it was a headwind finish so it was chaotic in the peloton. A lot of teams trying to get it right, my team weren’t 100 percent but we were committed,” Cavendish said.

“I sat in Mark Renshaw’s wheel and he brought me around. It was about timing your sprint right. It was slightly uphill into the headwind, so even though the others jumped early, I waited until the last moment. I knew that I had to go with 200 or 100 to go.”

Yesterday as the field drew inside the final kilometres of the 184km fifth stage from Ossingen to Buren AD Aare, Renshaw again had Cavendish in a good position third wheel.

However, on a sharp turn before the finish line Australia’s Matt Goss went down and took Cavendish with him.

It was a disappointing finish for QuickStep given Renshaw had the noted sprinter in an ideal position to claim back-to-back stage wins.

“I can’t really say how it happened from my point of view,” Cavendish said of the crash.

“They [team-mates] kept me there, especially Mark Renshaw, in the final. It was perfect. So we went into the last kilometre with good position. But there was chaos on both sides going into the end. 

“It was a bit of a dangerous finish. I backed off Mark’s wheel a bit because I wanted to avoid a crash in the last corner. I knew a few guys would overshoot it, so I stayed back a bit hoping I would miss a crash. Unfortunately I was still behind the crash of a complicated final. There wasn’t much I could do to avoid it as far as I know.”

That fifth stage was likely the final one to finish in a bunch sprint, so Renshaw’s task will now be to help Martin remain in the yellow jersey.