Former leadout Bernhard Eisel confident in Mark Cavendish's return: "It seems like he is back on track"

Mark Cavendish has had the pleasure to work with some of the best leadout men in professional cycling over the past decade and a half. One of them was Bernhard Eisel, who is happy to see his former teammate looking strong after taking a win at the Tour de Hongrie last week before aiming for the Tour de France.

“It was good to see Cav, he showed the power is there. It wasn’t really about speed or anything, it was pure power and it seems like he is back on track," Bernhard Eisel, now a DS for BORA-hansgrohe, told GCN. "In Turkey already he wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t contesting the sprints in the end because it was a tough course every day on grippy roads. He paid for that a little bit but it seems like the fitness and speed is there now, and he’s still got a few weeks to go."

Cavendish did win a stage early in the season at the Tour Colombia, but in more competitive fields throughout the spring he was far from contesting for any result. Only in Hongrie did he manage to do so. It was a nice field, in a bunch sprint he was perfectly led out by his Astana Qazaqstan Team teammates to beat Dylan Groenewegen in the sprint to the line.

"We are all joking around that we better make him win this stage of the Tour otherwise he’ll do another year. I think it will be well deserved and for cycling as a whole, the whole story is just incredible," Eisel argues. "He doesn’t have to prove anything anymore and he knows it. If we look at the numbers and the Tour stages, he is the best sprinter of all time. At the same time, the span of his career - we’re talking about two decades now dominating the sprints - what else should we discuss? There is nobody else who has done this.” For the Austrian, Cavendish has nothing else to prove, but is impressed by the Manxman's tenacity to beat the Tour de France stage win record - which could be only his, if he is to win one more time.

“It is not just about dedication, it is about leaving the family, going out there every day smashing yourself in training and going to altitude training camp as a sprinter - all just for one success in the Tour de France. I mean, it is stupid, at the end of the day, it is stupid. But this is what we are all driven by." Cavendish is currently matched by Eddy Merckx with 35 stage wins each. Last year he looked like he could improve this record, but a premature abandon in the first week due to a crash spoiled the plans. This led to a one-year renewal however, and Cavendish has more staff and leadout men into this year's attempt at the record again.

“This is the sport we fell in love with and we give everything for it. It is good to see that Cav still has that drive after three decades, because we have seen many sprinters who have been on top and it is easy to be on top," Eisel tells. "But to hold the top and to come back there, that is the tricky one - and most of them are retired, but he keeps going.”