Mark Cavendish wants to prove that his self-proclaimed title offastest man in the world is legit - ESPN

Updated: July 13, 2009, 11:28 AM ET
It's not bragging
Mark Cavendish aims to prove he's cycling's fastest racer and not just
a bag of hot air

By Chris Jones
Special to ESPN The Magazine

http://insider.espn.go.com/oly/cycli...3fid%3d4300592

This article appears in the July 13 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

He is unshaven and unsteady, standing in the parking lot outside his
darkened motel room, his black eyes surveying the brown Southern
California hills. His teammates, all white teeth and bulging calves,
have finished their communal breakfast and greet one another with
sunny good mornings. On this February day, though, Mark Cavendish
remains apart. Jet-lagged after a flight from the Middle East, where
he sprinted to two stage wins at the Tour of Qatar, the world's
fastest cyclist is not happy, to be in California in particular.

Members of Team Columbia-Highroad, down from their headquarters in
nearby San Luis Obispo, give their teammate a wide berth. They talk
about him in whispers. Sorry, they say, apologizing on his behalf
because they know his reputation: While Cavendish is widely regarded
as cycling's fastest man, its most powerful sprinter, the 24-year-old
Brit has also been called everything from classless to petulant.
During a time trial in last year's Tour of California, for instance,
he was vilified for passing beloved Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini
with just one foot on his pedals, the cycling equivalent of a face
wash. "He hasn't figured out how to behave," Cipollini said after.
"He's fast, but he's still a kid." Things got worse when race
officials later stripped him of a stage victory for drafting behind a
chase car. "It's just bulls -- ," he fumed to the press. "Who is
working this f -- ing race?"

Now, less than a week before a return to the event, his irritation is
fresh. He crosses his arms and frowns at the sky. Soon enough, clouds
roll in like called horses, peppering the parking lot with an unlikely
shower. Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in
Southern California.

He gets on his bike, a Scott Addict, one of the lightest frames in the
world, but quickly falls behind teammates on a leisurely training ride
outside the postcard-pretty village of Solvang. Something is not
right. Soon enough he spits the dummy and quits, his teammates having
pedaled over the horizon without him. He stands alone again, this time
on the side of the road in the rain, one hand on his hip, the other
holding his bike at a distance like a dirty diaper. Cavendish glares
at it until a support car pulls up, driven by 40-year-old Rolf Aldag,
the sporting director for Team Columbia-Highroad.

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He's going to race a cheetah like Usain Bolt?

drmofe wrote:
He's going to race a cheetah like Usain Bolt?

Hopefully he won't try to race Kevin Sireau.

On Aug 1, 9:04*pm, drmofe wrote:

He's going to race a cheetah like Usain Bolt?

Wasn't that Bryan Habana?

UD

On Aug 2, 9:38*am, Uncle Dave wrote:
On Aug 1, 9:04*pm, drmofe wrote:

He's going to race a cheetah like Usain Bolt?

Wasn't that Bryan Habana?

Yes, Habana did too.
He was certainly the fastest man on the pitch against the All Blacks
last night.