Adam Hansen joyful with Mark Cavendish's comeback: I've never seen him so happy to be racing

Adam Hansen and Mark Cavendish have been teammates and both remain in the peloton, albeit with very different roles. Long behind are the times both have worked together towards sprint success, but the Australian is happy to see the Manxman remain in the peloton and continuing to seek the Tour de France stage win record.

“We were speaking about it before. If he does it and he doesn’t succeed, then he knows. And if he didn’t come back there would always be a question mark and I don’t think he wanted that over his head," Adam Hansen told Cyclingnews at the Saitama Criterium, where he met up with Cavendish. “I’ve never seen him, especially in the last five years, so happy to be racing, which is good, and as a friend, I’m happy to see.” 

Hansen is eager to see Cavendish's hunt of the record. Only one win is enough to change history and the renewal with the Astana Qazaqstan Team into 2024 had that as a base. With a stronger leadout and guidance off the bike, it can be said that chances of success are higher despite the rougher route in 2024.

“He was saying with Astana he feels so good there, the environment’s good and this is a big difference and that helps his decision to stay, with Vinokourov helping him and the support that he’s got there," Hansen believes. Still at World Tour level, Cavendish also enjoys the possibility of choosing his calendar and does not have to fear about the wildcard race as he would otherwise.

Hansen concluded with a story he has of the Manxman dating back to their first years as pros, already over a decade ago: "I remember back in 2007 and Cav and I were in T-Mobile, we were training. He had this training partner in the Isle of Man and the guy said, ‘Let’s pretend to be someone. Who do you want to be?’ And then the guy who said this, I think he said he wanted to be Mario Cipollini."

"And Cav said, his exact words, ‘Fuck - I want to be Mark Cavendish.’ And just that mindset, he didn’t want to be someone else, he just wanted to be himself and he really believed in himself from the start.”