Mark Cavendish takes 29th finish in surprise appearance at amateur Isle of Man race: "From the gun, he was very vocal"
Cycling
After a disrupted first few weeks of his farewell season, Mark Cavendish is taking a break from World Tour racing currently as he fully recovers from illness and recharges ahead of a push towards this summer's Tour de France.
'The Manx Missile' is keeping completely off the bike though, and over the past weekend, the Astana Qazaqstan Team sprinter made a surprise appearance at an amateur one-day race back in his homeland of the Isle of Man. The 38-year-old finished 29th at the The Isle of Man's Nick Corkill Memorial Race on Sunday afternoon.
"When I turned up, I could see his bike, and that was the telltale sign," recalls James Meakin, one of the day's competitors in conversation with Cycling Weekly. "It's weird to see an elite pro like him, and his bike, outside a village hall, pinning on a number with all the amateurs. But there he was, chilling casual like any other amateur road racer."
"From the gun, he was very vocal with the other riders," Meakin continues. "He made sure they were pulling their turn. There are a lot of junior cyclists who are future stars for representing the Isle of Man, and he was very good at getting everyone to work together and be a cohesive bunch."
But what was the story of Cavendish's shock last-minute experience? "I was actually at a party on Saturday night. I messaged Cav back and said, 'Bring your licence and bring 20 quid.' And that was it," explains race organiser Richard Fletcher with a laugh. "He was like, 'Cheers mate.' And that was the exchange."
"Although we have to be quite strict with entry closure, because otherwise everybody just takes the mickey, we all sort of agreed that if it is a Conti-level rider or a WorldTour rider, we always put them in, because their programmes can change. That's the only slack we cut them. They rock up, pay their entry fee, and none of them complain about it," Fletcher continues. "I, just by chance, rode from the HQ building up to the start line with Mark. He builds it into a training ride normally. He had ridden out from Douglas, about 18 or 20 miles away, rode the race, and then rode home with a bunch of them as well. He just likes the club scene."
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- i don’t know nearly as much about bruyneel or hincapie as most of us do about lance, but we judge people by the company they keep. i hand no idea what psychological problems the other two have, but there’s gotta be something pretty severely wrong with them if they continue to choose to be close to armstrong.OCexile26-12-2024
- Ayuso and Rodriguez are only 22 and 23. Don't pressure it as they're still so sooo young.
James2631826-12-2024 - Not sure that can be true, in that USA Cycling is part of the UCI.acem8226-12-2024
- Oh, and yes: I am no psychiatrist/psychologist, but Bruyneel and Texas Turd are both sociopaths. It goes well beyond "protect my world and anyone would" that is the usual zeitgeist of their bullshit. No normal person has Bob Roll go at Greg Lemond with an audio recording device at Ron Keifel's bike shop...for example.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Funnier: this website keeps giving credo to their ramblings. In this case, why in any possible way would Boonen want to create a fantasy world to attach himself to these two clowns when more likely he would want to forget he was even there? Laughable.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- A sociopath is an informal term used to describe someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a mental health condition characterized by a chronic pattern of disregard for social norms, laws, and the rights and feelings of others.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Rowe spent his whole career on one team being nothing more than a thug for Skyneos. I have no idea why another team would want import this type of person into their program.Sweep26-12-2024
- “CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to family and friends of Pascal.” Paging a copy editor….menk26-12-2024
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024