Cavendish winning Surrey Cycle Classic 2011 (sum of mark)
Congratulations to Mark Cavendish and Team GB for finishing off an amazing victory in the World Road Championship – the first since Tom Simpson in 1965.
Despite my love of cycling, it’s not often I get excited about watching cycle races – often they are pretty tedious events. But, today I felt quite fortunate to watch the men’s world championship road race on TV from Copenhagen. It was an exhilarating piece of sport. I could really appreciate how the whole GB team were riding so hard to set up a bunch sprint for Mark Cavendish. I loved watching the likes of Froome and Wiggins just pacing the peleton at a superb pace. I don’t think a team has ever dominated so much in a World Championship from start to finish. Quite often national teams lack a unity of purpose, but today Britain rode with a single minded purpose to set up a thrilling finale. Despite an uphill finish and no real train left to lead him out, Cavendish squeezed his way through to win on the line. It can be easy with so much expectation, but Cavendish seems to have a mentality of a winner.
Cavendish is very keen to praise his team mates and thank them for their work. He said he would wear the World Champion jersey with pride, but he would also wear it on behalf of Great Britain.
If there is any athlete in Britain who deserves to win Sports Personality of the Year in 2011 – it is Mark Cavendish. It would be fitting for him to be the first cyclist to win the award since Tom Simpson in 1965. His achievements are not only amazing in one of the hardest sports, but he is also a real personality.
Also a great result for the rest of the GB squad in Copenhagen.
(Also interesting to see the separate cycle lanes next to the road in Copenhagen. And these were proper cycle lanes, with two lanes!)
Related
- Mark Cavendish
- World Championship at Cyclingnews
Cavendish is a legend and congratulations to him for his win. I was out in Morocco at the time and didn’t find out til I got back. Loved his Ubercool helmet. Not sure if Specialized will make a production model for us mere mortals though!!
I hope and wonder if championships and wins like this will bring the cycling “bug” to many more people – do you think it might have that effect?
Maybe! it can’t do any harm