Full spectrum From wearing yellow at the Tour to disappointment in pursuit of the , on a colourful 2016 k

Words Graham Willgoss

17 here is a new adjective in the It cost him the race, and he finished with and Kendal, when he stopped to have a peloton, Mark Cavendish tells silver. It was not the colour he came for. word with a spectator. It is the incident he Sport. “If you get a result that’s “I’m a little bit disappointed,” Cavendish has been asked about most this year. way out of the ordinary, we said afterwards. “I feel like I lost gold “It was raining and the thing is, I was call it ‘doing a Steve’,” he says. rather than won silver, but that’s how it going easy,” he explains. “I’d done a pull T“I’ve raced with Steve all year, and he’s got is… It was my own fault. It wasn’t my legs, on the front for Steve and swung off, and these exceptional results.” and when it’s not my legs, I’m a bit pissed that’s it. We form a grupetto and ride The Steve who Cavendish refers to is because I made a mistake. It’s not really in… I hear stuff all the time. Especially in his Dimension Data teammate and Tour nice to do that at a World Championships.” Britain. People think it’s banter, but they’re of Britain winner , who actually quite patronising. But this guy, I has gained something of a reputation for dunno why – it’s just the manner he said it.” ballsy attacks and stunning solo victories ‘Alright, big man’ Cavendish affects what he might call a – picking up a stage win at the Tour de Cavendish showed a huge appetite even to ‘super-patronising’ voice, elongating the in each of the previous two seasons. be competitive in the Qatar desert, having verb: “‘Oh look, he’s struggling!’ Cavendish himself has been ‘doing a recovered from stomach problems and a “I just stopped. I said: ‘Alright big man, Steve’ all year in what has been a ranging, training crash shortly before his crack at you take my bike and do it.’ There wasn’t ambitious season full of diverse racing for his final major goal of the season. When any kind of anger in there. I was just taking the 31-year-old. He won the , with Sport speaks to him shortly before the the piss. Then, like a caricature he swelled Sir , at the Track World worlds in his role as an ambassador for his chest out: ‘Nope.’ Then I was like: ‘Why Championships in in March. He American Pistachio Growers, he is also would you come out in the pissing rain just took the overall leader’s Yellow Jersey recovering from a gastro-infection after to shout stuff like that? I don’t get it.’ He after winning the first stage of the Tour de riding for Cummings at the . just said: ‘Because I can.’ He was horrible! France, and took four stage wins in total. “I raced predominantly because it’s my “I spent the rest of the Tour of Britain Cav also wore the , as home tour and it’s nice to race in front with riders, staff, fans asking what I said leader of the , for five of crowds” Cavendish explains. “And it’s to the guy... It was almost not worth doing days, but sacrificed a possible fifth stage good preparation for bigger goals later in because of how many people asked about victory on the Champs-Elysees by pulling the year, like the worlds. So you get a good it. It was just blown out of all proportion.” out of the race early to concentrate on the block of form from it. Normally, if you’re in . In Rio, he finished with a a build-up phase and you get sick, it’s best silver medal in the six-race . to back off and recover. But I didn’t want to Launch missile Then, last Sunday, Cavendish crossed because Steve was in yellow [the leader’s Cavendish’s form was not so much in the finish line of the World Championships jersey] and it was the Tour of Britain. question as totally unknown for the first road race in Doha, Qatar, behind defending “It depletes you, dehydrates you, takes stage of the in July. The champion (below). When the away your power. But at the end of the day Manxman had pulled out of June’s Tour split with 100m to go, Sagan went there is a finish line. It’s just how much you of Slovenia with illness. And yet he lit up right, Cavendish left. The Briton had the suffer before that.” the sprint at Utah Beach, springing from misfortune to be caught momentarily Cavendish had been working for behind Sagan to take the line and, for the

Previous page: Chris Graythen/Getty Images. This Bryn Lennon/Getty Images behind Australia’s Michael Matthews. Cummings on stage two, between Carlisle first time in his career, the Yellow Jersey. k

“It wasn’t my legs, and when it’s not my legs, I’m a bit pissed because I made a mistake”

All on the line: Peter Sagan pips Mark Cavendish in the sprint in Doha last Sunday

18 We suggest Cavendish has been able to Despite his success, Cavendish left on silver.’ It was the first time I realised: judge when to hit the big red button that France with five stages to go to transition ‘Shit, silver does mean something to me.’ reads ‘Launch Missile’ in the sprint much back to the track in preparation for the Because it hurt a little when they said it.” more effectively this year. omnium in Rio. “That comes from the track,” he replies. “If I’d just done it without working on “You forget when you have big lead outs the track throughout the year, it would The full picture and pressure, you’re always going to hit have been much harder,” he explains. “It Cavendish will be back on the track where out early. The Tour, especially, is different. just takes a lot of managing it right. You his podium-gracing year started next We have a saying: ‘If in doubt, hit out.’ have to know you can do it. Fortunately week for Six Day London at the Olympic Always, a second or a third is better than I’m one of the few in the world who can. velodrome, where he is set to race with a sixth. So you’re best going than getting “Obviously [Rio omnium winner Elia] Wiggins. Sport spoke to Cavendish shortly swamped by the peloton. Viviani is a road rider, but he stopped riding before the news of Wiggins’ therapeutic Really, last year [when he came away the road [after the Tour of Poland]. So to use exemptions broke, courtesy of the with one stage win], I was under a lot of think I was riding over the Tourmalet [the Fancy Bears. Cavendish is not on their pressure. You saw it, [teammate Mark] highest paved mountain pass in the French list. Still, we doubt it changes how he feels about riding with Wiggins in the capital and at Six Day in November. “It’ll be nice riding with Brad,” says Cavendish. “We’ve got good memories in that velodrome, so to be back there, if we have the atmosphere each night like we had in them final 50 laps [at the worlds in March] especially, it’ll be pretty special. “We haven’t raced too much together anyway. So we’ll speak as much as we do now. We’ll always be close, me and Brad. We’ve been through a lot together. I won’t be surprised if he says he’s retiring and then he doesn’t, to be fair. But we’ll see.” One final question, then: does Cavendish feel is underappreciated, given its phenomenal success on track and road in the past 10 years? “It’s easy to get carried away,” he says. “The social media-driven, clickbait- driven society that we’re in now is only representative of a certain demographic, you know? When you see people out on the road, like we saw at the Tour of Britain, it kind of balances out a bit. You understand that people do appreciate it. “When you’re away from it, and you’re in your bubble… you don’t see the full picture. The evolution of cycling in this country has been massive, but it’s a long way from being ingrained in the culture. But that’s not why we started – to be “To think I was riding over the celebrities. We started because we love riding our bikes.” Tourmalet, then doing sub-13s flying Cavendish holds his sport in great affection. So much so that he intends on laps and 1.02s kilos. It’s nuts” finishing Ghent Six Day then flying directly to Dimension Data’s training camp in South Africa to begin preparations for 2017. Renshaw – he messed up. He kind of led Pyrenees], then doing sub-13s flying laps “Peta’s not going to be happy we’re not me to the slaughter last year, you know? He and 1.02s kilos – things that would have won getting a holiday,” he says of the family just dropped me off [too early], then you’re Olympics a few years ago. It’s pretty nuts. strife it may cause. “Delilah is probably just playing catch-up. You stress a bit. “But I didn’t have a pre-plan to stop. If I going to be even more pissed. But I just “This year, we had a lot less pressure. So felt fresh, I’d have finished the Tour. But I want to take my daughter to school, you you can wait and try those things. But also, couldn’t go into such a deep hole and still know? I want to do normal stuff.” just from the track, you hone in on your have been able to transition.” As if to reinforce her husband’s speed and distance awareness. The track It was Cavendish’s third time at an message, Peta tweeted after Cavendish is so measurable that you know where you Olympic Games, but the first time he had stepped off the podium in Doha on Sunday: can go from how far out, and you can kind come away with a medal, even if – again – “I am beyond proud of that man. I wish of know where your legs are to the metre.” it was not quite the colour he wanted. you all could even know 10 per cent of how That knowledge served Cavendish well How does he feel about it now? much he loves his sport and the sacrifices enough to bag four stages – his best Tour “I’m a winner, that’s the thing,” he he makes. What a year.” return since 2011, when he won five with says. “I’m always going to be disappointed What a year indeed. HTC-Highroad. It was enough to take him unless I win. But I thought I was more @grahamwillgoss above into second on the disappointed than I was, until someone all-time list, with 30. He is now just four said: ‘Hard luck on the Games.’ No one had Mark Cavendish is an ambassador for American

behind the great . said it. Everyone had said: ‘Congratulations Pistachio Growers, www.americanpistachios.co.uk Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

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