To win a Tour stage at 39 is a stunning feat of endurance in a sport where many careers last less than two years
Mark Cavendish has always possessed the cycling equivalent of an extra smidgin of spin or split second of time on the ball.Mark Cavendish has always possessed the cycling equivalent of an extra smidgin of spin or split second of time on the ball.debut, there was plenty of expectation that the youth from the Isle of Man would produce special things on his bike, but longevity was never mentioned.
As remarkable as Cavendish’s sprint ability – the blistering speed, the split second reflexes, the brain bending courage – is the staying power he has displayed in the last few years, the sheer bloody‑mindedness that has kept him going when the gaps wouldn’t open and the legs wouldn’t answer his mind, when others would have reflected that what was already on the shelf was sufficient.
Students of stattery will enjoy the fact that other records are within Cavendish’s reach: he’s still two behind Mario Cipollini’s tally of 57 career stage wins across the three Grand Tours, but with five more sprint stages to come in this Tour, you never know. With Cavendish, the unexpected has become routine.
For now, it’s enough to watch the replay as we could have watched any replay of the other 34 stage wins going back to 2008, and let our collective jaws drop as Cav does what he does best. We ask it of all the Tour sprinters, but we’ve been asking ourselves since 2007 how on earth the Manx missile does what he does, and if we are still asking that question 17 years on, that is the measure of a truly remarkable athlete achieving feats that are the stuff of dreams.
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