Cavendish aims for triumphant sprint ‘home’

This relatively flat stage is built for the fastest men on two wheels to light the blue touch paper on the 101st Tour and Yorkshire’s weekend in the spotlight.

It provides a rare chance for a sprinter to wear the yellow jersey and after missing out this summer in a sprint to the line in Corsica, it is a scratch that Cavendish will be keen to itch.

Throw in the opportunity to close in on the great Bernard Hinault’s tally of 28 stage wins and it provides further impetus for Cavendish to accelerate to opening-day glory.

The fact that Cavendish’s mother is from Harrogate, his uncle still lives there and the ‘Manx Missile’ holidayed there as a young cyclist, further enhances the belief that he is destined to win what for him will be a poignant stage of the Tour de France.

As star names go they do not come much bigger than Cavendish.

The man is pure box-office, whether he is raising his arms aloft in triumph, pulling no punches in interviews or testing the boundaries of sportsmanship by muscling his way to the front of the bunch.

He has also been a very high-profile backer of Welcome to Yorkshire’s bid for the Tour, with his past experiences of being on the bike in and around his grandmother’s home in the pictueresque spa town, giving him ample insight into what to expect next year.

Cavendish spoke with authority in a video message that was part of the tourism board’s bid for the Grand Depart.

Christian Prudhomme, the Tour director, was clearly impressed.

When he saw that message, he told a gala dinner at the route announcement in Leeds: “I remember looking up and suddenly seeing Cavendish on the big screen, sitting in a big chair, wearing his glasses and explaining why the Tour had to come to Yorkshire.

“It was like Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to ME?”

The family connection is clearly something Cavendish hopes to honour on July 5 next year.

And there is every chance he will do so.

Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome may be the men in yellow, but it was Cavendish who began paving the way for this era of British dominance with his revered second kick taking him past the fastest sprinters in the world and onto stage win after stage win.

He claimed his first stage win of this year’s Tour, and 24th overall, on the sea front in Marseille three weeks ago.

It was another majestic display of his speed, pulling off the wheel of his leadout man, the big Belgian Gert Steegmans, and sprinting for the line, his teeth gritted and his face showing the strains of a man putting every fibre of his being into chasing one goal.

Sky’s Edvald Boassen Hagen was second, but in truth, a Cavendish win was never in doubt.

Afterwards, Cavendish was as humble as ever when talking about the revered victory targets and records that may now be well within his reach.

“You have to show the Tour de France the respect it deserves,” said the 28-year-old Omega Pharma QuickStep rider.

“To win one stage can make a career. I aim to win multiple stages each year.

“This race is everything for me and I want to come here and show the race the respect it deserves.

“Setting targets can do one of two things; it can distract you and then if you reach that target, it can de-motivate you.”

The 2013 Tour was incident-packed from Cavendish’s point of view.

In the space of four days, he was accused of unsportsmanlike behaviour, attacked by a fan, lost out in a sprint – fair and square – and then added another win.

On stage 10, Cavendish was accused of deliberately crashing into Marcel Kittel’s leadout man, Tom Veelers.

Kittel was still able to win the stage, with Cavendish third, but there was a stench about the farago which was exacerbated when on the individual time trial at Mont St Michel the following day, Cavendish had urine thrown at him by a spectator.

It was an unforgivable act – one we hope is not replicated on Yorkshire’s routes in particular next summer – and one that upset Cavendish and the cycling world.

On two wheels, where it matters most, Cavendish’s claim to be the undisputed king of the sprints came under severe threat from Germany’s Kittel on stage 12, when the Argos-Shimano rider outpaced Cavendish in the sprint to the line.

Kittel could even afford to stop pedalling half a wheel from the end, with Cavendish looking to his left at this pretender to the throne.

Full credit to Cavendish, he had Tweeted earlier in the Tour that he thought Kittel was the new “superstar of sprinting” and would not make any excuses for his defeat.

“You can analyse it, but when there is someone simply faster than you, there is nothing you can do,” said Cavendish.

But what makes Cavendish such a great cyclist and sporstman was that within 24 hours, he had put the troubles of the past few days behind him to get back to what he does best, winning stages of the Tour de France.

He did so on stage 13, sticking to the break of Alberto Contador that splintered the peloton and racing ahead of Peter Sagan to claim his 25th stage win.

It was vintage Cavendish.

Witnessing the ‘Manx Missile’ kick-off next year’s Tour with a sprint victory into Harrogate would give the Tour de France organisers here in Yorkshire the perfect scenario, the fans an unbelievable thrill and give the rider himself a very emotional moment to savour, even in his glorious career.