Two Men of Concrete

The Tour de France has been rolling across the Mediterranean coast over the last few days, from Monte Carlo on Saturday, to Barcelona tonight. In the meantime, it has actually gone through France, and two men at very different ends of their careers have proved themselves to be what Stuart Pearce would call, “proper men.”

After the short first stage on Saturday, there were a couple of long flat stages set up for sprinters, and Mark Cavendish. The sprinter is an odd beast – he will sit inconspicuously in the peloton for a hundred and twenty miles before appearing in the last 500m and elbowing his way through to streak off the front of the pack. At the moment, there is no-one better at this than Cav.

On both days, his Team High Road squad did a terrific job of protecting him throughout the long stage across the southern coast of France but, on both days, he finished the race in style by muscling away from all his rivals. A good sprinter will lurk in a rival’s slipstream before leaping out at the last minute and flying past. On Sunday, as Cavendish flashed towards the line, his American rival Tyler Farrar lurked ominously on his wheel.

Contrary to Farrar’s expectations as he tried to draft Cavendish, the young British sprinter started moving AWAY from him. As they crossed the line, Cavendish raised his arms to start celebrating and was still moving away.

Following up with another win on Monday, he is wearing the green jersey of the best sprinter – this is his target for the Tour and, unless he falls off an Alp, he will get it. He is by far the fastest man in the world right now.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of the old stager Lance Armstrong to show the world he still has it. After three and a half years of retirement, he has come back this season and, whilst he has been impressive, he has not shown any of the dominant form of old and, at least outwardly, has been committing himself to supporting nominal team leader Alberto Contador.

But by stealing a few seconds on Monday he had manoeuvred himself ahead of Contador and, despite a little discomfort and discord within the team, Tuesday’s Team Time Trial was an opportunity for their Astana team to establish Armstrong in Yellow.

Eventually, he finished the day 0.22 seconds off yellow, but the thrill of the chase was so evocative of his glory days. He drove the rest of his team relentlessly on leaving them occupying half of the top ten spots in the race. Armstrong is now Astana’s top rider and it will be fascinating to see whether or not he goes back to supporting Contador, or keeps riding for his own victory.

Tomorrow there is the first real mountain stage as the riders move from Barcelona to Andorra, with the finish line outside a ski station. The Armstrong of old, sculpted from concrete would have used the stage to stamp his authority on the race. It will be interesting to see if his legs can propel him up like they used to. If they can, then I don’t believe for a second he’ll back off for the sake of his team.

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Giro d’Italia – Cavendish is a legend. 23rd May 2009

Giro d'Italia

For anyone who is not particularly a fan of cycling, you probably think that Chris Hoy spinning around a velodrome is the pinnacle of the sport. You would, of course, be wrong. The professional road racing circuit are where the world’s best cyclists do battle over hundreds of miles, Europe’s highest mountains, and in front of hundreds of thousands of fans every week.

It’s quite a mess – there is no unified series to compare to the Formula One World Championship, or even the Athletics Grand Prix series – as the various race organisers and teams argue among themselves. And then there is the constant spectre of drugs, hanging over cycling more than any other sport like a cloak of doubt.

There is a very real sense of generational change in the sport at the moment. With dozens of old stars failing tests and being banned, it has been a very painful process, but there are many younger stars coming through the ranks, winning races, and taking a very public and very vocal stand against drugs – a direct contradiction to the conspiracy of silence which characterised previous generations.

Everyone has heard of the Tour de France, but that is only one of three grand tours. The other two are the Vuelta a Espana and the one which is running right now, the Giro d’Italia. It’s a three week race of 21 stages which takes in two mountain ranges.

The old guard are represented by a resurgent Lance Armstrong. Racing in a supporting role for his team-mate Levi Leipheimer, there is no chance of him winning the tour, but he had stated he would like a stage or two. So far, he hasn’t made the impact we are so used to seeing but, in the last week, we will see whether his legendary stamina has survived the two years of retirement.

But it’s the new generation’s finest prospect that is catching my eye. Mark Cavendish is the best sprint cyclist in the world, and, in my opinion, the most exciting young sportsman in Britain.

By way of comparison, Chris Hoy got a knighthood for being the best in the world at riding three laps of a track, Cavendish does that after a hundred and fifty miles. I am being a little unfair to Hoy, who is very good at what he does, and seems to be a thoroughly likeable man, but it frustrates me that he is hailed for what he does at the Olympics live on the BBC, whereas Cav’s achievements are hidden away in the North of Italy, and on Eurosport.

Last year, he won four stages of the Tour de France – no other British cyclist has ever won more than two. This season, he won the prestigious Milan-San Remo one-day classic, and now he has won three stages of the Giro.

He was the only member of Britain’s glorious Beijing cycling team to return without a medal so, for the BBC, he’s a failure. He should be in the House of Lords.