HE may have had a less than ideal off-season, but Mark Renshaw still managed to ride his way into yet another top 10 finish in the annual People’s Choice Classic in Adelaide on Sunday evening.
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Held as a prelude to the Tour Down Under, the classic sees the sprinters of WorldTour teams get their first chance to do battle with each other in the 50.6 kilometre event.
This year it was world champion Peter Sagan from the Bora-Hansgrohe team who got the nod in a time of one hour, four minutes and 25 seconds.
Renshaw, who is representing Dimension Data, crossed the line in 10th as he tested his legs in a race situation for the first time this year.
It was a good effort from Renshaw given sinus issues hampered his build up. It was his third top 10 finish in the last four years in the classic, an event he won in 2007.
Renshaw’s team was aggressive throughout the race, which saw the field cover 22 laps of a 2.3km circuit.
Firstly Nicholas Dlamini was part of a four-rider break and after that group was brought back to the peloton on lap four, fellow Dimension Data rider Lachlan Morton spent time at the head of the field.
Others tried without success to get clear of the peloton as the speed nudged 50km/hr, but inevitably the classic came down to a sprint finish.
Renshaw positioned himself in the front third of the peloton as the finish line loomed, but in the end it was one of the men he is tipping to challenge for Tour Down Under honours – Sagan – who got the nod.
“We had Mark Renshaw following the wheels of the favourites over the final two laps and after he avoided the Team Sky rider who fell in the last 300 meters, Renshaw crossed the line in 10th place,” Dimension Data said on its website.
The Bathurst rider and his team-mates will now turn their focus to the Tour Down Under, which commences on Tuesday with a 145km stage from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch.
There is only one categorised climb – a 6.3km category two some 38km into the stage – so the winner is expected to be decided by a bunch sprint.
It will give Renshaw another chance to test his legs, but his main job in what will be his 15th Tour Down Under appearance is to help team-mate Tom-Jelte Slagter in the battle for general classification honours.
“We have a motivated team with some Australians who are normally in good shape for their home race,” Slagter said. “So far I am really happy with the team … everything has been great here as well with everyone working well together.”
