The story of Mark Cavendish (in the opening photo by Wout Beel) could be the plot of a film: it has all the ingredientsThere's the great champion, the fastest of all, but he's lost his way. Nothing is as easy as it once was. The years pass, various health problems make it difficult to regain form. Teams stop trusting him. And while he seems to be on the road to sunset, life offers him an unexpected chance.The champion who took his place gets injured. Mark will run again Tour de France, the only race that truly motivates himIt could already be a movie, if there is also a happy ending it will be perfect and today we will begin to understand more.
First sprint
From Lorient to Pontivy there are in fact 182,9 kilometers, with a promise of a sprint finish that made the sprinters and their men stand up and take noticeHe had it. called Jacopo Guarnieri on the eve of the Tour: "Don't look for us until Monday!". And even if the altimetry is anything but trivial and there is even too much nervousness in the group, the ball will certainly pass to the trains today.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't try to sprint," Cavendish told Stephen Farrand of Cyclingnews. "These days, riders try to push expectations further. I hate doing that, even though sometimes I have to. I'm a rider, I'll always be a rider, and I'll always try to win. No one can say I haven't at least tried.I've never taken the Tour de France for granted. The Tour de France is special; it's the greatest race in cycling, but also one of the greatest sporting events in the world. Every kid who rides a bike dreams of racing it. And that never changes, no matter how old you get.».
Bennett Mystery
The plot of the film is well known, but his reaction to Lefevere's call fits perfectly into the plot of the film which has been his life for a few years now.
«His program was decided – Patrick Lefevere tells us again – when after the Tour of Belgium he asked us what he would do now, We told him straight away that he wouldn't be in the Tour team.».
The hiccup or fortunate situation that marks the turning point in this film's plot occurs when Sam Bennett gets confused. The Irishman will leave, as has been known for a while, but instead of continuing to race as if nothing had happened, he reveals he had a problem training in Monaco before the Tour of Belgium. The team initially supports him, but why not? At the 2020 Tour Bennett won two stages and the green jersey, the investment is important, the train was built for him and it is in the full interest of the Deceuninck-Quick Step to have him back in France in top form. In the meantime, the team relies on Cavendish's sprints, who, without the psychological burden of the Tour, is relaunched in motivation and results.He wins four stages in Turkey and one in the Tour of Belgium. But Bennett doesn't recover. His last race remains the Algarve, where he won two stages and the points classification. So the team arranges a flight from Nice to Herentals for a visit, but the Irishman doesn't show up.
Mark's doubts
With someone like Lefevere the push and pull cannot last forever, but in fact the team that is banking heavily on Alaphilippe for the overall standings, finds itself without a sprinter on the eve of the TourNo one forgets the tone, halfway between ironic and irreverent, with which he spoke during the Giro the team manager spoke about Cavendish, but right now The British rider, who has 30 stage victories in his palmares at the Tour and is 3 points away from Merckx's overall record, is the only resource leftLife is sometimes more beautiful than any movie: Lefevere swallows his pride and changes gear.
“We told Sam he could stay home,” she says, “that we would do without him and we called Cavendish. Mark's first reaction was colorful: "Shit!" Then he started saying he wouldn't be ready, that he didn't have a suitable program for the Tour.. But in the end we managed to convince him."
He had already run the Tour of Belgium to replace Bennett, because after the Scheldeprijs mess, the team had decided that the two could not coexist in the raceHe had arrived in Beveren the night before the departure and by gritting his teeth and raising the bar, on the last day in Beringen he left behind Merlier, Ackermann, Groenewegen, Bouhanni and Coquard.
Air of legend
From now until the end of the Tour, we will know what chapter Cavendish will be able to add to his story.
«I have the best last man on the planet in Michael Morkov – he told Cyclingnews – I have the opportunity to race the Tour with Deceuninck-Quick Step and that makes it something special. We are a real team even off the bike and I'm just happy to wear this shirtWhether I'm here carrying water bottles or making people laugh, I'm just honored to be at the Tour de France. There are people who have had a lot more problems in life than I have, but what I had to face made me understand what is important in life and why I do the things I do».
But Lefevere has gotten wind of something. So, like a shrewd old fox, he goes around repeating that the team will not put pressure on him and that Cavendish will have plenty of time to take his measure in a Tour that offers plenty of opportunities for sprinters. Undoubtedly the level of challenge is higher than what he has shown he can handle in the last five years, even if Everything was weighed down by that poorly treated mononucleosis that weakened him and drained him of motivation.So what do you want to take the pressure off someone who's used to putting tons of it on them? The challenge is on, the film is about to write its next scene. No sprinter in the group, knowing him, is willing to give up on him. See you in a few hours at the finish line in Pontivy.
