Dream Come True for Cavendish as he  Rides for T-Mobile

 

27th of July, 2006

by Larry Hickmott

 

Commonwealth Games and former World Champion, 21 year old Mark Cavendish is to race with top Pro Tour team T-Mobile as a stagiaire' towards the latter part of this years road season. He is one of a number of the riders who have risen to the top of their sport thanks to the programmes put in place by the Great Britain Cycling team and who are expected to be racing with pro teams this year including Cavendish's teammate Ed Clancy.

Speaking exclusively to British Cycling from Germany, Mark says "I'm tremendously pleased to be given this chance" he started by saying. "Its been a long time coming and the hard work has finally paid off. I can hardly believe it to be honest."

Having known Mark for a few years now, and seen the school of hard knocks he has come through, there can be few more deserving cyclists to be given this chance. As it says on the T-Mobile website, Mark has never been slow to let anyone and everyone know of his ambitions in cycling and that of riding for a Pro Tour team. He has said it to me many times when chatting but then having dreams and having them come true can sometimes be two different things.

 

GB Olympic Academy Graduate
First and foremost, Mark says his success is down to the hard work and coaching he has had the last three years from his coach Rod Ellingworth who he is still in constant contact with. It was after a recent discussion with Rod, the GB Olympic Academy coach, that they both decided that Mark was not required for the European Track Championships and that it would be benefit Mark by having some time at home to get over his injuries and concentrate on training for his major goals, the Road Worlds and Tour of Britain. 

 

The tie up with T-Mobile came via Heiko Salzwedel. "I can't progress any more as an amateur, something he knows and he has a lot of faith in me which is good." Mark then went on to explain that his forthcoming race program will include the Regio Tour in Germany (UCI 2.1) and then the Tour of Britain, one of two major targets. The other being the World Road Championships for Under 23 riders.

After his crash in the Tour of Poland (June) where he won stage 3, Mark came home to recover from a bad period of the year where he was sick and sore from some bad crashes leading up to a target of his, the Baby Giro from which he had to retire. Mark spent two weeks training in Manchester before returning for the Sachsen-Tour International to get his race legs back.

"During the last six weeks I've just been doing my best to get back on it. I got ill before the Baby Giro and since then have been trying to build myself up to have the best possible form. I have never been as focused on anything as I have for the last few months. Baring the crash in Poland, things have been going well with training an that."

Talking about his crash in Poland, he said "it had the potential to set me back quite badly but in the end I was only off for a few days with a broken finger and the usual cycling grazes."

Asked if his chance to ride for T-Mobile was the fulfilment of a long time ambition, Mark replied "completely. Every young riders dream is to become a professional, and I'll be riding with one of the biggest pro teams in the world. It's a dream come true especially for it to be T-Mobile."

When I put it to Mark, has he been put off the sport by how hard it is, he replied "no, not all. It's too hard a sport not to love it. I love what I am doing and I know what potential I have and I want to make the most of it. Just watching the Tour de France in that first week and seeing McEwen and the others, it just drives you."

Mark is also driven by the possibility of doing some major classics as well in the latter part of this season, which is why he'll be doing his best to show himself in the races he has coming up to impress his T-Mobile bosses.

 

Mark mixes it with some leading sprinters at last years Tour of Britain when riding from Great Britain.

In the Tour of Berlin earlier in the year, he was in great form winning two stages, finishing second overall and taking home two jerseys - Green for the Points and the Red for the Intermediate sprints. There have been other stage races this year where he has won such as Thuringen-Rundfahrt and most recently in the Tour of Poland where only a horrific crash stopped him winning more.

"He showed in Berlin that he can race against the clock and climbs well," says T-Mobile's development coach Salzwedel, who adds: "Mark is one of those sprinters, who fears nothing in the hectic final metres." Salzwedel believes Cavendish has all the qualities necessary for a rider about to cut his teeth in the hard knock school of pro racing: "I believe he's ready for the next step."  T-Mobile and the T-Mobile Team have reaped a lot of success from cycling over the years. With this programme we want to give something back" says Heiko adding, it looks like Mark Cavendish could be an early beneficiary.

Related Links

Tour of Berlin: >>>>
Isle of Man Stamp: >>>>
Thuringen-Rundfahrt Stage Win: >>>>

T-Mobile Website: >>>>