Off a long, straight road in Alicante province, Mark Cavendish sits in a dusty valley, smiling with team-mates during a break in the day's training among the jagged hills and orange trees of eastern Spain.
Cavendish had not won a Tour stage for five years. He'd suffered setback after setback, season after season. Injury, illness and depression combined as he considered retirement in late 2020. It was an emotional return and one that resonated strongly among cycling fans. "When he steps out of the team bus you never know if he'll come back in five minutes like a wild bull because something is wrong with the bike," smiles Tom Steels - a former sprinter himself and directeur sportif for the team during last year's Tour.
Getting another shot will be no mean feat. But it has never been simple for Cavendish. It's what's made him who he is. Cavendish's talent first showed on a BMX, growing up on the Isle of Man. Sitting in the Irish Sea between north-west England and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man is where each year they race the world's fastest motorbikes at 200mph between dry stone walls. "It's in the blood," Cavendish says.
They would jink and twitch on the tarmac, gambling on the correct line to launch themselves towards the finish in a furious release of energy, a brutal miracle of fight and flight at speeds close to 80kph. A period of "total rest" followed, but when an uncharacteristically subdued Cavendish did return he suffered some bizarre crashes. First came a huge somersault when clattering into a traffic island during the gruelling Milan-San Remo. Then he came to grief behind the commissaire's car before the Abu Dhabi Tour had even officially begun.
"He was there and he won his first stage and we had a Facetime call and he started crying," remembers Lefevere.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: OK_Magazine - 🏆 12. / 84 Read more »
Source: TheSun - 🏆 64. / 61 Read more »
Source: MotherAndBaby - 🏆 128. / 51 Read more »
Source: The Independent - 🏆 57. / 63 Read more »
Source: The Guardian - 🏆 84. / 53 Read more »
Source: OK_Magazine - 🏆 12. / 84 Read more »