Mark Cavendish

I read this quote from Mark Cavendish on pedaldancer.com this morning and it reminded me of this photo from 3 years ago.

“I don’t go so well uphill but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it,”
http://www.pedaldancer.com/2011/03/quote-of-day-mark-cavendish.html

We may think that the sprinters are no good at climbing, but the photo below illustrates just how good they really are. Mark Cavendish could whip the ass of 99.99999% of cyclists on any climb in the world. He is as he once claimed the “fasted man in the world over 200m”. Up the Tourmalet or Hautacam there are only a few hundred riders in the world who could beat him. That’s out of 6,000,000,000 people in the world. I have also heard many people say that sprinters are talentless, as they just sit on while others do the work and then take the glory at the end. Again 99.99999% of riders in the world would not be able to sit on as they would be dropped long before the sprint started.
Cavendish is an exceptional talent in a sprint and up a mountain.

Bernard Eisel & Mark Cavendish on Hautacam, Tour de France 2008.

This photo was taken about 1km up the climb of Hautacam during stage 10, Pau – Hautacam, 2008 Tour de France. Cavendish was dropped near the summit of Col de Tourmalet and Eisel was ordered to wait for him and make sure he was not eliminated from the tour. This was the stage used in the Etape du Tour that year, the winners time in the Etape was 05h 37′ 48″. The winner of the stage was  Leonardo Piepoli of Saunier Duval in 4h 19′ 27″. The second placed rider was Juan Jose Cobo also of Saunier Duval, with Frank Schleck in third. I’m not counting the first 2 because of the doping problem in that team in 2008.

The time of Frank Schleck was 4h 19′ 55″, including the actual climb of Hautacam in 37′ 58″ which is the record. Mark Cavendish finished the stage in last place in 4h 54′ 22″ slower than Schleck by 34′ 27″. I have no exact time for Cavendish on the climb but if I take a harsh 1′ per kilometre on Schleck that’s an approx time of  52′ at the end of a 156km stage is pretty good. As far as I am aware no guests here at La Lantern Rouge have done it in under an hour, I usually take about 1′ 20″ to 1′ 30″.

The really interesting figure here is the winner of the Etape at 05h 37′ 48″ and Cavendish at 4h 54′ 22″, that’s 43′ 26″ faster than the top rider for one of the worlds top amateur events. Mark Cavendish is a really good climber and he enjoys it as well.

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Tagged as: Cavendish, hautacam, Mark Cavendish, Tour de France