The Manxman poised to write his next chapter
HTC-Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish notched up his fourth stage win of this year’s Tour de France today, bringing his tally to an incredible fourteen stages in the past three editions of the race. At that rate, the 25 year old is on a pace that could surpass the record of 34 stage victories by the great Eddy Merckx. He came into the Tour with an eye on the green jersey, but his ambitions changed to stage wins following a rough start to the race.
While the Manxman has had a lion’s share of success in the past few seasons, this year’s surge to the front of the peloton has been particularly difficult for the young talent. He began the season with a tooth problem that interrupted his build-up and delayed his start to the season. When he finally got back to racing, he found himself losing sprints against riders that had more racing miles in their legs.
Cavendish found himself under the microscope all season and, with his teammate André Greipel off to his winning ways early, his failure to dominate the competition resonated even louder. The verbal war between the two sprinters began to get personal, which didn’t help the struggling rider’s image. Even when he looked to be back on track at the Tour of Romandie, what would be his second win of the season was overshadowed by a controversial two fingered salute that saw his HTC-Columbia team pull him from the race.
With each defeat, the crescendo continued to build, until everything literally came crashing down at the Tour of Switzerland. Cavendish was ruled to be the cause of the nasty crash that marred the finale of the Swiss event’s fourth stage, which gave him another psychological blow in what was his final build-up for the Tour de France. He entered the Grande Boucle with a cloud of doubt over his head, and the monumental task of trying to live up to his previous accomplishment of six stage wins.
The pressure on the HTC-Columbia rider continued to build when he crashed with two kilometers remaining in the first road stage of the race. He then followed it up with a confidence sapping twelfth place, which drew the sting of his detractors but, more importantly, saw the sprinter let down his teammates.
There was no doubt that Cavendish went into the Tour de France set to back up his pre-race bravado, but even with his world on the verge of crumbling around him, the HTC-Columbia team remained confident he would overcome his plight.
He went into the 187.5 kilometer fifth stage still a Boy Racer, but he passed under the finishing banner in Montargis with an expression that was that of a new man. He continued to win, and win, and win again, but not once did the young man, who said of his previous verbal thrashings – “people don’t realize I’m only 25 years old” – diminish his streak of victories by disrespecting his fellow sprinters. He added dimension of class to his wins, now as a humble champion who seems to have learned a big lesson.
If Cavendish’s fresh new perspective and appreciation of winning is for the long-term, it may well earn him an all new level of respect from his rivals and detractors alike. He would then just need to strike a balance between tact and taunt to keep the fun that is smack talk alive and well.