Sir Mark Cavendish: ‘I’m Never Doing the Tour De France Again’
Sir Mark Cavendish can't tell you with 100% certainty what the future holds. He pretty much knows that his final professional race will be the two-day Tour de France Criterium in Singapore in early November, and he has plans to go into cycling team management once he's finally hung his cleats up.
But Cavendish does know one thing for certain, he will never compete in the Tour de France (TdF) ever again.
‘I’m the one person who knows how fucking hard it is,’ he says. ‘ I haven’t entirely committed to what I’m doing, except for the fact that I cannot prepare for the TdF ever again. Cycling is hard enough, the TdF is another level. That is a dead cert.’
Cavendish, who's this month's Men's Health cover star, turned pro as a road cyclist in 2005. That means for almost 20 years, he's sat in the same cycling position, with the same pedal revolution and the same seat height. And now his 39-year-old body is feeling it. He's had his fair share of injuries in that time too – from concussions to fractured ribs. ‘I feel old now. I feel broken. It takes me a while to get going,’ he says.
‘I remember 10 or 11 years ago I had an old teammate, who was the age I am now. He asked how long I’d have off over the summer. I told him five weeks. He couldn’t believe it because he’d had 10 days – which I couldn’t believe. He just smiled and said, “You’ll see.” Here I am, the veteran. He was right. So right.’
But whatever the future holds, Cavendish isn't getting off the bike entirely; it's more that he sees this period of his life as an opportunity to try new things. He'll always ride, he says, but without the rigid structure of pro cycling – the flights, the hotels, the punishment – he'll be free to try other things too – starting with the Paris marathon, which, alongside his brother, he's already signed up to.
There is also the career in management that he's been gearing up for over the last few years. ‘I want to stay in ... the sport,’ he says. ‘I still love it.’
Read more from Mark Cavendish in the latest issue of Men's Health
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