DEFENDING CHAMPION HAYLES WON'T GIVE UP TITLE WITHOUT A FIGHT
DEFENDING champion Rob Hayles is adamant that he will not give up his elite men's National Road Race Championships jersey without a considerable fight at cycling's greatest ever Battle of Britain.
But Hayles admits he, and the other top domestic circuit riders in the 191-strong field, will have their work cut out to fend off the best men from the leading European ProTour teams on Super Sunday.
The most outstanding field ever assembled in one National Championships day will battle it out around the roads of Monmouthshire to be crowned the best rider of the year and make the coverted jersey their own into 2010.
That field includes Olympic medalists from all the Games this decade, multiple Tour de France stage winners, numerous former national champions and the cream of Great Britain's best men on the domestic scene.
Hayles achieved his longed-for ambition of winning the National Championships jersey when beating Ed Clancy into second place 12 months ago in North Yorkshire.
It was 'a dream come true' for Portsmouth-born and Derbyshire-based 36-year-old Hayles, a 2000 Sydney Olympics track bronze medalist who also took silver four years later in Athens and added gold and silver in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Hayles said: "When I look back over the years, I've missed out on a few opportunities to wear the jersey. When it was down in Cardiff in 2001, I was second behind Jeremy Hunt and it was down to half-a-bike length at the end.
"There have been a few occasions where I have had good form but I have not won so, last year, was the year I said from the word go that I will win the race. To come up the finishing straight and win it, I could not believe it.
"When we got away with the group with 80K (kilometres) to go, I was going through what I would do in the victory straight because nobody was going to touch me. I was that confident but I have not got that confidence at the moment."
Hayles has succeeded in securing that jersey where the recent greats like new superstar Mark Cavendish, four times a Tour de France stage winner last year and who has won stages in the Giro d'Italia and Tour of Switzerland in the past month, plus triple Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins, have not.
In fact, in the rain that came thumping down on Duncombe Park, Yorkshire, 12 months ago, the big ProTour riders, who are tipped to lead the way on Sunday, were left limping behind mighty Hayles.
Cavendish, before his Tour de France brilliance, could only finish 59th, while the then-defending champion David Millar, who won the title around the same Abergavenny course as the race tackles this year and is also a Tour de France stage winner, was down in 90th while Wiggins was a place below him.
This year, with sunshine forecast to beat down on the big day, the heat is likely to be really on in more ways that one given the UK-based riders have had a big programme of events leading into the weekend.
Hayles added: "It's been a fantastic year (being national champion) and really good to wear the jersey but this is going to be an interesting race.
"For the domestic guys, it's always tough to come up against the Continental guys. Dave (Millar) has won it in Abergavenny but it will be tough because of the programme the domestic guys have had in the last few weeks. It's not an ideal scenario for most of us.
"With the last two lead-in races that I've had in the last few weeks, it's been a struggle, to be honest. With respect, I'm not looking to give out any excuses but it will be a lot harder.
"Last year, the Abergavenny Grand Prix (the Robert Price Grand Prix of Wales) was just a week before the Nationals and I struggled to get over The Tumble that day.
"If I can get across to the front of the race this year in readiness for The Tumble, then I think I will be looking to do a decent performance and, of course, it would be fantastic to win again."
But, as he said, it will not be easy this year - and Cavendish will have the bit between his teeth to take a National jersey he has never won before to next month's Tour de France where he caused such a sensation 12 months ago.
"Everyone will know if Cav is there at the finish," added the defending champion. "He is the one to beat and there will not be many people thinking that he will mess up the sprint if he gets in position at the end because that won't happen.
"Of the domestic guys, though, Russell (Downing) and Wilko (Ian Wilkinson) have got good form - and, of course, there is myself!"
The last man to defend his National Championships title successfully was Roger Hammond who, ironically, did so on the same Welsh course around Newport in 2003 and 2004.
Hammond is also one of the top European names that are in this weekend's mouthwatering field and Hayles would like nothing more than to add his name to that particular role of honour.
The race starts at 11am on Sunday from Abergavenny town centre.
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