by Glenn Pearson

Former national road race champion Kristian House has played down his chances of regaining the prestigious British jersey this year due to the strength of Team Sky.

The 32-year-old shocked the peleton to win the national road race title in 2009, seeing off the likes of Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar. The Canterbury-born professional cyclist was in a select breakaway group in last year’s race, but Sky flexed their muscles and Wiggins powered to victory.

House expects much the same in this year’s race in North Yorkshire in June, but the race, together with the Tour of Britain, remains high on the Rapha Condor Sharp man’s agenda this season.

"It’s getting really difficult to focus on the nationals now with Team Sky there and the number of riders they have and how they approach it," he said. "I will go there and hopefully I will have good form there and use it the best way I can.

"The Tour of Britain then comes along and the goal is always to win a stage there. I would rather win a stage than go for the overall, that for me would be most appealing.

"It’s always been my goal to win a stage but it’s also been part of my brief to go for the General Classification as well."

While in previous years House’s brief was to contend for overall victory, his team’s change of direction means opportunities for stage wins are the more likely this year. Rapha, traditionally the heavyweights amongst the domestic cycling teams, have opted to change their team line-up this year, with an emphasis on nurturing young talent. House, as the experienced member of the squad, will be expected to help his team-mates during races and limiting his hopes of finishing high up on the list of overall winners.

He said: "There is a lot of talent there waiting to be developed. When you go to a race and talk about your plans or your tactics it feels like a new team because the expectation of winning a race is no longer there.

"It’s not easy for me to switch to, especially when you want to win races yourself. There is an element that makes it a bit harder but we all bought into that."