Cyclist
‘It’s not romantic’: Mark Cavendish on his final Tour de France, #35 and an Astana lifeline
Mark Cavendish enters a sweaty conference room on the outskirts of Florence. The Astana Qazaqstan team hotel is filled with journalists from all corners of the globe ready to tap away at their keyboards in memorialising the words of cycling’s polarising orator. There’s a childish eagerness to hear what the best sprinter in Tour history has to say about the much-talked-about 35th stage win.
This is Cavendish’s last ever pre-Tour de France press conference. Blink and it’s over. The Manxman has already teased us with a retirement, but now it seems like it really is the end. The curtain call has been prolonged, but there’s a sincerity in his eyes.
There’s no need to wrestle with words: this is the last chance to get a pull quote or a portrait in team kit. There is a palpable respect in the room unlike most pre-Tour press conferences. Collectively, we lean in as ‘Cav’ approaches the microphone.
‘I don’t have to starve myself anymore’
The press conference begins with more smiles than normal from Cavendish. Twelve months on from a false start to retirement at the 2023 Tour, he returns for one last dance. Formerly a prickly character with the media, he wishes to highlight that he is here with purpose.
‘I know what it takes to be at the highest level. The work that goes into it, especially when you’re not as good physically as other bike riders.
‘I love this sport – I’ve always loved everything about this sport, especially this race. It’s quite beautiful that I start in Florence. I lived here for ten years. I’m training on the same roads I did throughout my career. Taking myself out of the fact that I have a job to do, on an emotional level, I couldn’t have asked for any more.
‘I feel the same as last year. I started that race enjoying every moment of what I do. Now, instead of having that one month of having it, I have a whole year of it. I’m more ready [for retirement] now than I was last year. I was ready last year, but I’m so happy I carried on.
‘I’ve got exciting things for the future. Even if I’m not the one pedalling, the people around me will be pedalling and I’ll just enjoy it and try to succeed. Even during my career, I’ve gotten such a buzz out of trying to help other people get faster: young and old guys.
‘I don’t have to starve myself anymore. I don’t have to leave Peta and the kids anymore. I’m very excited.’
‘I don’t want an excuse’
Cavendish’s prolonged farewell tour came after a crash at the 2023 Tour de France on the roads near Limoges. He pointed out that Alexander Vinokourov (Astana Qazaqstan team principal) tabled the idea of riding the 2024 Tour from the hospital after the crash. Cavendish is eager to underline that the team was at the centre of his decision-making process. The team, now built around him, remains at the forefront of his mind.
‘We need each piece in place to keep going. I don’t want an excuse. Every component we had was a factor in me continuing for another year. We worked hard to put it in place,’ Cavendish says with a look to Vinokourov, who sits to his left on the table.
‘For the past couple of years, I’ve had to earn a place at the Tour de France. That messes up your preparation. You don’t ride with the boys you want to ride with, or the team you’re going to go there with. It’s a strange thing.
‘They’re brilliant boys. We all get on super well. We’ve worked together, we’ve raced together, we’ve trained together all year. We eat together, we play cards together. When you see guys eat together, that’s when you know it’s a better team.
‘Mørkøv… his name speaks for itself. Ballerini’s the same. Cees did the last three positions as one person last year. I couldn’t ask for anything else.’
‘For many years, people try and take away from what I do’
Cavendish’s sheer tally of 34 stage wins is hard to visualise and digest. These wins have spanned from 2008 to 2021. When complimented by a Dutch journalist on his long list of achievements, Cavendish appears thankful. ‘You’re the first person who’s said this.
‘For many years, people try and take anything they can away from what I do. The thing I’m very proud of is the length of my career. Of course if you do something for very long, there’s going to be ups and downs. It’s something I’m very proud of. It’s something I’m very fortunate enough to have done.’
’34 stages, it’s a lot,’ Vinokourov says. ‘Sometimes it’s four or five per year. If we get just one more, it will be great.’
‘It’s not like playing roulette. If I don’t win here, I don’t lose 34 stage wins’
The pursuit of the record-equalling 35th has occupied plenty of column inches in the United Kingdom and beyond. After coming so close in Bordeaux in 2023, and returning to a high level recently at the Tour de Hongrie, Cavendish’s chances to make history don’t look as distant as we once thought.
‘Our job is to try to win. When big stories are made, that’s not from us. That’s from you guys’, he says while gesturing to the gang of journalists.
‘We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think it was possible. Realistically, there are five or six chances. Everyone else thinks they can do it, that’s the nature of sport. The other sprinters have those same opportunities. Fundamentally, that’s our job as cyclists to win.
‘We’ve had the time to make a plan of how to approach the Tour and we’ll put that into motion. We have everything in place so we can do it.
‘I don’t have anything to lose. It’s not like playing roulette. If I don’t win here, I don’t lose 34 stage wins. I know it makes a nice story to say that, but it’s as simple as that. I’ve won the most stages in the Tour de France along with the great Eddy Merckx. I’m just trying for more [stage wins]. Whether it’s one more, two more, ten more it doesn’t matter.’
I want to dig deeper into so-called Project 35. When he closes his eyes and visualises that 35th stage win, what does he see?
‘It’s not very romantic,’ he laughs.
‘We want a scenario for a sprint. It’s a clinical situation that we can’t share at the moment,’ Cavendish says. ‘It’s not very good for creative writing.’
‘You can’t finish a career like that’
Alexander Vinokourov, the Astana Qazaqstan boss, has led the Cavendish revival mission. The former Olympics road race champion gave Cavendish a route into the team at the eleventh hour at the beginning of the 2023 season and the two have worked closely to target the 35th stage win. Vinokouruv has brought in Cavendish’s close friend and former lead-out man Mark Renshaw as performance director as well as his former coach Vasilis Anastopoulos, who played a big part in his revival at QuickStep.
On the team’s roster, Astana have reinforced a fresh lead-out train of talents old and new. Cavendish’s QuickStep leadout man Michael Mørkøv has made the switch, as has another man from the QuickStep train Davide Ballerini, who has notched big sprint wins for himself, while Cav’s last man in 2023 Cees Bol returns – he’s also won sprints for himself in the past.
‘We talked in Paris after the Tour [last year],’ Vinokourov says. ‘Whatever decision you make, it’s your decision. Don’t regret it. You can’t finish a career like this, in a crash. Professional life is not easy.
‘We believe in our goal, we’ve made the team much stronger in the sprints. I think we are more likely [to win a stage] than last year.’
‘My wife’s quite looking forward to me being home’
When asked about life beyond the Tour de France, Cavendish gives an inquisitive look over to Vinokourov. We are now privy to a discussion that could be on the cards, even if his answers allude to an imminent retirement. There’s no categorical denial. For the hopeful, there’s another lifeline.
‘There’s no obligation,’ Vinokourov states.
The likelihood of another year of racing seems dashing. Cavendish is sure to underline the importance of his family time. Recently in the second series of Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained, he revealed that he couldn’t go on the trampoline with his kids the week before the 2023 Tour began.
‘My wife Peta’s quite looking forward to me being home,’ he says. ‘The kids usually give me cards and gifts ahead of the Tour.’ From the back corner of the room, Peta Cavendish reveals the contents of her husband’s final Tour de France care package. The goodies include a good luck coin and some sweets.
‘Sometimes you just need Haribo,’ she says.
‘That changes your perspective on what being a sportsperson is’
Legacy is a buzzword in sport. It’s an ambiguous term, but after 34 Tour de France stage wins, Cavendish is evidently caught off guard when asked about his post-racing legacy.
He pauses for a while, leaving the room in a stillness. ‘I don’t really know,’ he initially says.
‘I said before I started my career, if I could ever be in a book of names of cyclists that meant something, I’d be happy.
‘Once you grow up and have children, you can see how they’re inspired by heroes. That changes your perspective on what being a sportsperson is.
‘I grew up idolising some bike riders. I got to race with those people and got to know some of those people. They made a significant impact on me both as bike riders and as people.
‘I see the same idea that my children have, if they meet any bike riders and they’re nice to them as a person, then you see a difference in the way they are. I am fortunate to be in this position, inspiring, not just a generation, but a few generations. Adults or kids, it doesn’t matter. If they can grow up and see me from afar and know me, if I’ve left an impact there that’s motivated them, that’s what’s important.’
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