Tag: Mark Cavendish

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Mark Cavendish Wins Maiden Road Race Title

Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish Wins Maiden Road Race Title Mark Cavendish has claimed his first National Road Race Championship in typical sprint finish in front of an ecstatic crowd in Glasgow. Riding for Omega Pharma-Quickstep, Cavendish entered the final straight in the company of Ian Stannard (miraculously recovered from a puncture in the penultimate lap), David Millar and Peter Kennaugh but delivered his trademark sprint to outclass the rest across the 184.6km course. Stannard (Team Sky) had to settle for second and Garmin-Sharp’s Millar third, with Kennaugh dropping from the podium.

 

Cav’s website now declares: ‘Fastest man on two wheels. FACT.’

 

In the Women’s National Road Race Championships Lizzie Armitstead (riding for Dolmans-Boels) held off the challenge of Olympic team pursuit champions Laura Trott and Dani King to retain the title she has held since 2011.

 

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Is Mark Cavendish Unbeatable?

Is Mark Cavendish UnbeatableWhen Britain’s Mark Cavendish took victory on Stage 21 of the 2013 Giro d’Italia (May 26) he became the first sprinter in five years to win the race’s coveted red points leader’s jersey. But, perhaps more significantly, having been awarded the equivalent at both the Vuelta a Espana (in 2010) and Tour de France (2011), he became only the fifth rider ever to win it across all three Grand Tours – joining Eddy Merckx, Alessandro Petacchi, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Laurent Jalabert.

 

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live Brian Cookson, President of British Cycling, has described the 28-year-old Isle of Man sprint star – who joined Omega Pharma-Quick Step this season from Team Sky – as ‘almost unbeatable’. With Cav currently having an impressive 23 stage wins of the Tour de France under his wheels, Cookson commented ‘He has certainly got a good chance of overtaking the great Eddy Merckx during his career.’

 

Merckx, widely regarded as the greatest every cyclist, currently holds the TdF stage win record (34), holds three world titles, won the TdF five times between 1969 and ’74, claimed victory the same number of times at the Giro and also claimed a win of the Vuelta a Espana in 1973. Cavendish undeniably has potential to continue his climb (sprint?) to great heights, but just look at some of Merckx claims to fame:

 

In 1972 he enjoyed a 39% ‘win rate’ (in 1970 and ’73 it was 37%).

He enjoyed a record 525 career victories.

He jointly shares – with Charles Pélissier (1930) and Freddy Maertens (1976) – the record of eight stage wins in a single TdF.

He is the only cyclist to have won the GC, Points and Mountains Classification in the same TdF (1969).

 

Can Cav beat that?

 

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Vincenzo Nibali wins the Giro 2013

Vincenzo Nibali wins the Giro 2013Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali has won the 2013 Giro d’Italia in an overall time of 84hours 53’28″, four minutes, 43seconds ahead of Team Sky’s Rigoberto Uran in second and five minutes, 52seconds ahead of third-placed Cadel Evans (BMC). The Astana rider was all-but assured victory after yesterday’s epic stage victory, amidst freezing, blizzard conditions for a summit finish in which he retained his race leader’s pink jersey meaning that today’s easy pack position proved more than enough for him to claim victory.

 

Britain’s Mark Cavendish took today’s Stage 21 win; the flat 197km run into Brescia was always going to fit the sprinter and with plenty of points still available he grabbed the opportunity and did what he does best. His effort made him the first sprinter in five years to win the Giro’s coveted red points leader’s jersey and only the fifth ever to win its equivalent across all three Grand Tours (he joins legend Eddy Merckx, Alessandro Petacchi, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Laurent Jalabert.)

 

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Cavendish Wins Giro d’Italia Opening Stage

Cavendish Wins Giro d’Italia Opening StageOmega Pharma-Quickstep’s Mark Cavendish has won the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia – the 130km circuit loops of Naples – bagging his 11th career stage win of the Italian classic and his third time in the famed leader’s pink jersey (the Maglia Rosa). Cav launched in typical ‘Manx Missile’ form in the closing two-dozen metres with dramatic effect, completing the opener in a time of 2h58’38”, and keeping Cannondale’s Elia Viviani in second and the French National Champion, Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ), in third.

 

After inadvertently swearing live on air as he fiddled with his radio earpiece, Cavendish composed himself to thank his teammates and concede that the stage had been both tough and hot – the temperature having hovered around the 30degrees mark. He commented, ‘It was a difficult, difficult stage for me… We didn’t get it quite right at the end and Gert [Steegmans] had a mechanical in the final kilo, which we need to look at. They (mechanical failures) are costing us too many races.’

 

The opening stage was awash with crashes (and, at one point, a stray dog on the course), with David Millar tweeting, ‘I love crashing the first day of a Grand Tour: glut & shoulder bruised to hell, bike broken ( Congrats @MarkCavendish, delivers as usual.’ Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins – who is targeting both a Giro and Tour de France win for 2013, and who avoided the many spills – finished respectably in 64th on equal timings.

 

The Giro d’Italia continues tomorrow with the 17.4km Team Time Trial on the tiny island of Ischia.

 

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Gerald Ciolek wins Milan-San Remo

Gerald Ciolek wins Milan-San RemoGerman Gerald Ciolek (MTN) has won the Milan-San Remo in spectacular fashion and despite appalling weather. The 26-year-old – the youngest ever winner of the German National Championships back in 2005 – crossed the line in 5h 37’20″ at the head of a six-man sprint finish in freezing conditions that had seen the withdrawal of several key riders and a curtailing of the official 298km distance after snow had made the climb of La Manie impossible. Riders were transported to a new start point 130km from the finish with the six-man lead group allowed to restart with 7’10” advantage, although several riders – including Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), David Millar (Garmin) and Sky’s Geraint Thomas – abandoned at this point.

 

Ciolek beat Cannondale’s Peter Sagan – a firm race favourite – into second place and RadioShack’s Fabian Cancellara into third. Team Sky’s Ian Stannard, who looked in contention right up until the closing moments, was the highest placed British rider in sixth whilst Mark Cavendish for Omega Pharma-Quick Step took ninth place, 14seconds adrift of Ciolek. Despite Cav’s lack of overall form on the day, he was perhaps the most succinct in summing up the conditions with his tweet: ‘Fucking. Freezing.’

 

Commenting on his win rather than the weather, Ciolek said, ‘This is an unbelievable success for us and just an incredible day. We just came here as a wildcard and now we’re standing here with the trophy. This is great. I knew I had to follow all the best riders on the Poggio and it worked out perfectly.’ Team Principle, Douglas Ryder, added: ‘To win the first major classic ahead of Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara through these weather conditions is amazing… We were coming into the race hoping for a top 20 but every rider gave everything they could to help Gerald.’

 

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Sport Industry Awards 2013

British Cycling Sport Industry Awards 20132012 was a year of memorable sporting events but even amongst such crowded competition the success of British cycling, both on track and on road, has been rightly reflected in the shortlist for the Sport Industry Awards 2013. Amongst those nominated to go forward for consideration by the main judging panel are three60 Sports Management and the Wasserman Media Group for their management of Victoria Pendleton and Mark Cavendish respectively and BskyB’s Sky Ride 2012 in The Community Programme Award category. Indeed BskyB take a double nod of recognition also being nominated in the Best Sponsorship of a Sport Team or Individual for their support of the GB Cycling Team 2012, whilst Team Sky go up against adidas, Channel 4, Paddy Power, The Wimbledon Championships and Team GB for Sport Brand of the Year.

 

Perhaps most gratifying of all though is seeing British Cycling nominated for Sport Governing Body of the Year with Chief Executive, Ian Drake, saying: ‘The past year has undoubtedly been the biggest and the best in British Cycling’s history so it is fantastic to hear that we have been nominated for this prestigious award.’ He continued, ‘Cycling is the sport that redefined our national sporting identity last year – we saw the first British winner of the Tour de France and took 16 gold medals home from London 2012 but, equally, we have seen some amazing achievements at the grassroots… On behalf of everyone involved with British Cycling, we are delighted that our hard work at all levels is being recognised by the sports industry.’

 

British Cycling face competition in the category from: the British Horseracing Authority, the British Olympic Association, England Hockey, RFL (Rugby Football League) and UKA (UK Athletics). All of the results will be announced at the Sport Industry Awards ceremony on May 2.

 

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Mark Cavendish Conquers Qatar

Mark Cavendish wins Tour of QatarMark Cavendish has won the Tour of Qatar for Omega-Pharma Quick Step after finishing first on the final leg, the 116km from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, making it four consecutive wins out of the six stages. It looked much like a repeat of yesterday’s action with Cavendish amongst the bunch sprint forming inside the final 10km of action, but having to fight hard in the final 1km to beat Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2R La Mondiale) by barely half a wheel to finish in a time of 3h 24’ 31”. He went into today’s stage with a 15second advantage over second place Brent Bookwalter and 20 on third placed Taylor Phinney (both BMC Racing) meaning that only a catastrophe could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the Manx Missile, but ultimately he dominated the stage every bit as much as he has dominated the tour.

 

The final overall standings were

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in 15h 55’ 20”

Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) +25″

Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) +26″

 

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Mark Cavendish Leads in Qatar

Mark Cavendish Leads in Qatar Omega-Pharma Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish has taken his third straight victory at the Tour of Qatar, coming in strongly at the end of today’s 154km Stage 5 from Al Zubara Fort to Madinat Al Shamal, in an almost identical finish to yesterday’s stage. Going into tomorrow’s final stage – 116km, Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche – he remains in overall lead on a time of 13h 30’ 59” with BMC Racing’s Brent Bookwalter in second, 15seconds adrift, and his teammate Taylor Phinney third on +20seconds. British riders Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas (both Team Sky) currently sit on overall ninth and tenth position respectively.

 

Cavendish commented that the ride had not been as easy as it looked, saying, ‘Even mild winds here on this circuit causes some problems… We knew it would be stressful today. It caused a few splits but we always had five or six guys riding for me. The protection was spot on. As for my spot in the final, we really kept together. Some other teams tried to take over — I think they got some confidence in the last few days. But my entire team came to me in the last minute and we just went.’ He dedicated the victory to Omega-Pharma Quick Step’s owner Zdenek Bakala on his birthday, adding, ‘What’s better than you getting a victory from the team? It’s a great birthday gift for him I think…’