Having recently won the green jersey in the Tour de France, Cavendish came out on top this time against tough competition from Sacha Modolo of Italy and Samuel Dumoulin of France, who finished second and third respectively. British cyclist Kristian House was crowned king of the mountains.
It was incredible, there was a big crowd and it was very technical. It’s really great. It has a special finish down The Mall and was really well organised. It’s good for the city and good for cycling.
Great Britains' Mark Cavendish
More than 150 world-class athletes made up an impressive start list of riders who were eager to carry out their own tests of the London 2012 Cycling Road Race course, with high hopes of returning for the real thing next year.
The race, which started on The Mall in central London, passed through six London boroughs, four Royal Parks and out into Surrey before returning to The Mall for an incredible sprint finish. Two challenging laps of Box Hill in the Surrey countryside were completed by the world class field.
Debbie Jevans, Director of Sport at LOCOG, said: 'I want to thank London and Surrey residents for changing their normal Sunday to accommodate this race and to the tens of thousands who lined the route to support the athletes. Today our focus was to test the 'field of play', road and traffic management, crowd and spectator numbers and technology and communications from the race back to the head quarters.'
Pat McQuaid, President of the UCI, said: 'The Olympic road race test even has been an overall success and we are impressed with how it has been managed by LOCOG. The race attracted the world’s best athletes which in turn attracted magnificent crowds to watch throughout the course, some of which may never have seen road cycling before. I am certainly looking forward to watching the race in 2012.'
