Cycling: Cavendish targets San Remo double

(Getty)

Britain's Mark Cavendish is out to repeat his 2009 performance by winning the Milan-San Remo today. Cavendish beat Heinrich Haussler in a group sprint finish two years ago and will lead HTC-Highroad alongside Matt Goss in the 298km race, the first classic of the season.

"Mark has already won this race and he'll be our leader," HTC-Highroad sports director Valerio Piva said. "He's motivated and physically he is in pretty much the same condition as when he won it in 2009. We also have Matt Goss, who has already won eight races this year, and we have a good support team around them both."

Cavendish finished outside the top 10 of the recent Tirreno-Adriatico, while Goss prepared for the Paris-Nice race. "The important thing was to finish Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice in top condition and that's definitely the case for both Mark and Matt," Piva said.

Defending champion Oscar Freire leads Rabobank's challenge, while Tom Boonen will ride for the Quick-Step team, a year after finishing second.