There are nice sprinters like Sagan. There are sprinters who commanded respect like Zabel. Others who were great like Freire. There were the pioneers Poblet or Van Looy. There were elegant ones like Van Poppel and others who were scary with their movements, like Abdujaparov. Others like Petacchi or Kittel, who, when they were in shape, were unbeatable. And one, Mario Cipollini, who created a school, which has since been imitated ad nauseam, by inventing the train approach to the finish line.
Some have won more and others less, but only one gave the sensation of dominating the massive arrivals in such an affordable way. Mark Cavendish was the sprinter who won easily. Maybe the last one. That was the feeling their victories gave. As if the stages he chose couldn’t end any other way than with him raising his arms. It was the most natural thing in the world. A very simple movie script.
And 17 other stages in the Giro
His victories were even monotonous, like his Milan-Sanremo (2009) and his road World Championship (2011).
Choose a line, get off the wheel, face the wind, grit your teeth, move a big gear and accelerate and accelerate. “Nothing is easy in cycling,” he repeated in interviews after putting his bike at more than 80 km/h. But it was hard to believe him, seeing him amass triumphs, seeing how his record of achievements grew.
This was his Milan-Sanremo, in 2009. Or the day he won the road World Championship, in 2011. Races without a big battle, monotonous, written for him and that bore his name.
To do this he had to go through hardships in the mountain stages, bordering on out of control on many days and even being caught on some occasions when the race organization turned a blind eye. To shine he had to have teams at his entire disposal, which is why he was only able to race for one year in the Sky despite being British like Froome and Wiggins.
They will say that he was a boring champion, that his 35 stage victories in the Tour cannot be compared to Eddy Merckx’s 34. Nothing to see. But no one can deny the determination, perseverance and almost obsession with which the Isle of Man cyclist pursued the Cannibal record.
In Saint-Vulbas
In 2023 he was forced to leave the Tour by ambulance but extended his career to become the man of record
They were all the same. 35 sprints. From Châteauroux, in 2008, in his second participation, to Saint-Vulbas, in 2024, in his fifteenth and last Tour. But that was his specialty. And at his job he has been the best. For this reason, to the 35 stages in the French round, he added 17 in the Giro d’Italia and another three in the Vuelta a España. In total, 165 official hits.
Even capable of returning from where no one expected him, from two seasons in which he seemed to have lost his power and potency. Between 2019 and 2020, the pandemic season, Cavendish did not win anything. The doors were closed on him. He was already 35… but years old. And the Quick Step gave him an opportunity that he clung to and thanked with 4 more stages in the 2021 Tour to match Merckx.
Then came two new blows. The following year he was not selected among the eight cyclists and in 2023, already in Astana, he fell and had to abandon. The myth could not leave in an ambulance and extended another year to achieve a goal that was between eyebrows. In fact, he only won two other sprints in Colombia and Hungary, two minor races.
And, of course, at the Singapore Critérium, which is organized in Asia by the Tour’s headquarters. Even on the last day he put on a number, he raised his arms, to respect tradition, winning over Philipsen, one of those who aspire to be his successor.
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