A New Dawning for Mark Cavendish

 

Story posted January 25, 2007

Interview & Pictures by Larry Hickmott

 

Covering 1900 kilometres in two weeks during his T-Mobile's team training camp in Majorca, Great Britains former World Madison champion and current Commonwealth Games Champion says he is in 'quite' good form. "I'm not buzzing but then I don't want to be at this time of the year so I definitely have a good base in for the season."

After a busy year in 2006 racing the whole year for either Isle of Man, Great Britain or various trade teams including T-Mobile at the end of the season, Mark jetted off with his 'girl' Mellissa to Florida for a good break before heading to Australia with GB for a training camp where in his words, he was 'canning' the road.

 

Mark leaving the track on a high... winning the final race of the night at Revolution 16. Next stop, the long road around Europe with Pro Tour team T-Mobile.

He then kept his hand in on the track by doing the Moscow World Track Cup and said at Revolution 16, he was refreshed and excited by the season ahead. "I have got the best opportunity a 21 year old could have by racing for what I have always believed to be the best racing team in the World with the policy they have, the ethics and that. It's the perfect set up for me to go with and a great bunch of riders and staff".

He then explained he intends to stay on the Island (Isle of Man) in between racing until March when he will move to Belgium. "I'm going to be training at home for the next couple of weeks and will probably have a rest for a few days as I am starting to feel a bit sick. Then I start the Etoile de Besseges on the 6th of Feb. Then I go to Ruta Ciclista Del Sol followed by Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne".

 

Melissa and Mark, making the most of their time together.

To help him prepare for his first season ahead as a ProTour rider, Mark has been to the T-Mobile's training camp in Majorca. "It's brilliant being a ProTour rider with T-Mobile. I went there in the best shape I have ever been in in January and had to be because those boys can go fast training."

"The training camp was a lot different this year as they had the new structure in place. We had similar stuff to what the federation have been doing; media training, nutrition, psychologists and that which is stuff most pro tour teams don't have yet. So we were rushed off our feet. We'd get back from training and it would be chokka all afternoon with commitments like that. Having been doing a lot of that stuff with the 'squad' (GB) since I was 18, it was a bit boring but good too that there was still stuff I could learn."

"The guys have been brilliant. I was sharing with Andreas Klier who is a massive classics specialist and he was great with me. I tend to get on more with the classic riders and they have all been brilliant in helping me like Roger (Hammond) who has been great for the last couple of years. As well as Andreas, I have spoken to riders like Servais Knaven and Axel Merckx and they are all a great bunch of riders"

"There is such a buzz in the team. Everyone is excited and bright about this year. Most of the riders speak English as well. I think there is only Serhiy Honchar who doesn't but he just gets on with it anyway. And I can speak German as I have lived there for a couple of years so everyone understands each other."

"After my season starts, I'll be doing most of my races in Belgium like the Classics in the first half. Then I'll probably finish the first half of the season with Criterium du Dauphine Libere and the National Championships. It would be great to get that jersey this year and I believe it is possible. I'm not doing the Track Worlds this year."

Mark is one of two British riders in T-Mobile with other being Roger Hammond who has come to the squad from another ProTour team in Discovery Channel. Hammond has won stages in the Tour of Britain team two years running and having a bit of a gallop in him, is ideal to be Mark's guiding hand in what will be the Isle of Man riders first season as a ProTour rider. To finish our chat which was done between races at Revolution 16, Mark finished by saying "I'll be staying with Roger in Belgium. He will be great in helping me get on, learning the ropes. He's a hardcore old school rider and such a good guy. I think its going to go well this season."