What more can we say? Mark Cavendish attempts to ride through a gigantic puddle. Mark Cavendish falls in.
The video was shot by Rob Hayles back in April 2012 (that’s him you can hear cackling throughout) which means that Cav is at least resplendent in the rainbow jersey for his fall.
As alluded to by the tweet below, Cavendish could instead have been racing in that year’s Tour de Romandie. He had finished third in the prologue but abandoned before stage four, which is what led to his training with Hayles on the roads of Essex.
Probably would have been better to do the 15km TT in #TourDeRomandie! Less chance of drowning than in training today! pic.twitter.com/hfiRkRSw
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) April 29, 2012
Cav’s training efforts in somewhat miserable conditions must have stood him in decent stead though. In the following weeks, he would win three stages in the Giro d’Italia.

6 thoughts on “Video: Mark Cavendish falling into a massive puddle”
There is, without a shadow of
There is, without a shadow of doubt, an attitude amongst some cyclists which regards any flooded road as a challenge. In my (misspent) youth, we had an annual ‘Tour of the fords’ clubrun. I don’t think it ever past without at least one person taking a dive!
It was great fun!
Well I thought it was great fun…
I think you’re right. I did
I think you’re right. I did similar 2 years ago. Only needed the bottom bracket and both wheels replacing afterwards because so much water got in the bearings. Wouldn’t recommend it.
75kph, spoosh. That laugh is
75kph, sploosh. That laugh is straight off a SFA album.
A few years back my mate was
A few years back my mate was up to his top tube through there.
It’s the lane from Aythorp Roding (Axe & Compass pub) towards White Roding btw.
We got used to riding through
We got used to riding through floods that year. Why does he ride so far over to the side of the road? It’s always deepest there and potholes more likely. The camber of a road makes the centre higher than the sides, so it’s always best to ride right through the centre of a flood as the water is shallowest there and potholes less likely. Also, best to ride a wee bit faster…go too slow and if you do hit a little dip…oops! You’re in. I admit all this learned the hard way!
Such a slow news day that you
Such a slow news day that you have to publish videos from 2012?!