Mark Cavendish

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Mark Cavendish Cavendish while at Team Sparkasse Personal information Full name Mark Cavendish Nickname Cav Manx Express Date of birth May 21, 1985 (1985-05-21) (age 23) Country  United Kingdom0( Isle of Man) Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Weight 69 kg (150 lb) Team information Current team Team High Road Discipline Road and track Role Rider Rider type Sprinter Professional team(s) 2006 2007 2008– Team Sparkasse T-Mobile Team Team High Road Major wins World Championship, Madison (2005, 2008) Giro d'Italia, 2 stages Grote Scheldeprijs (2007, 2008) Infobox last updated on: May 13, 2008

Medal record Track cycling Competitor for  Great Britain World Championships Gold 2005 Los Angeles Madison Gold 2008 Manchester Madison Competitor for  Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Gold 2006 Melbourne Scratch race

Mark Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team High Road. Originally a track cyclist competing in the Madison, points race, and scratch race, he moved on to become a professional road racing cyclist in 2007. He made his track debut for Great Britain in the 2004 Moscow World Cup. As a road cyclist, he has quickly risen to prominence as a sprinter. Cavendish was introduced to the world of cycling about the age of 12, having previously been a keen BMXer. He now splits his time living and training between Manchester and Tuscany, Italy.

Contents 1 Career biography 2 Career highlights 2.1 Major track results 2.2 Major road results 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career biography

Cavendish's cycling career started as a successful track cyclist. Among his best results were his gold medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games scratch race, riding for the Isle of Man; and gold medals in the 2005 world championships madison and 2005 European championship point races. Also during 2005, he began road racing, riding the Tour of Berlin and the Tour of Britain.

"Cavendish is the fastest in the world in the last 50 metres of a sprint." Daniele Bennati, May 2008[1]

Cavendish began the 2006 road season riding for the Continental team Team Sparkasse. In June, he won two stages in the Tour of Berlin, as well as the points competition and the sprints competition.^[2] This led to his gaining a post as a stagiare with T-Mobile from August until the end of the season.^[3] His best result for T-Mobile in 2006 came during the Tour of Britain, where he took three second places and won the points classification. This helped secure a full-time professional contract with T-Mobile for 2007 and 2008.^[4]

Cavendish's 2007 season began with a win in the Belgian semi-classic, the Grote Scheldeprijs, followed by two in each of the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Volta a Catalunya. This led to his being selected for the 2007 Tour de France. However, his Tour was not successful. Crashes in stages 1 and 2 removed him from contention for two of the stages won by sprinters, and left him heavily bruised.^[5] He abandoned the Tour on stage 8, in a planned withdrawal as soon as the race reached the high Alps, having taken two top-ten placings but stating that he was unhappy not to have had at least one top-five placing.^[6] His debut season continued with ten stage wins by mid-September, ahead of Robbie McEwen's record of eight wins in his first season as a professional, and one behind Alessandro Petacchi.^[7] By early October, Cavendish had taken his 11th win, the Circuit Franco-Belge, to equal Petacchi's record. Among the wins were three in UCI ProTour events, the two in the Volta a Catalunya and one in the Eneco Tour of Benelux. Following his win there, Cavendish said: "I'm an old-school sprinter. I can't climb a mountain but if I am in front with 200 metres to go then there's nobody who can beat me."^[8]

Cavendish and Francaise des Jeux rider Sandy Casar were the first riders to sign the UCI's anti-doping charter, introduced before the 2007 Tour de France.^[9]

In 2008 Cavendish returned to the track ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing, which he stated was his priority for the season.^[10] On 29 March 2008 Cavendish and his partner Bradley Wiggins became world champions in the Madison winning a close race at the UCI World Championships in Manchester.^{[11] [12]} On the road, Cavendish continued to compete successfully, most notably winning his first stages in a Grand Tour at the 2008 Giro d'Italia.^[13]

[edit] Career highlights

[edit] Major track results

[edit] Major road results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.markcavendish.com
• http://velobios.com/riders.highroad2008.cavendish.htm

v • d • e Riders on Team High Road Michael Barry | Marcus Burghardt | Mark Cavendish | Gerald Ciolek | Scott Davis | John Devine | Bernhard Eisel | Linus Gerdemann | Bert Grabsch | André Greipel | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Roger Hammond | Adam Hansen | Greg Henderson | George Hincapie | Kim Kirchen | Andreas Klier | Servais Knaven | Craig Lewis | Thomas Lövkvist | Tony Martin | Marco Pinotti | Morris Possoni | František Raboň | Vicente Reynès | Michael Rogers | Marcel Sieberg | Kanstantsin Siutsou | Bradley Wiggins | Manager: Bob Stapleton

Persondata
NAME	Cavendish, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH	1985-05-21
PLACE OF BIRTH	Isle of Man
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH