Manager Rod Ellingworth says there is “potentially” room for a sprinter in Bahrain McLarens’ team for the Tour de France, even though the route is “excellent” for Mikel Landa, who will battle for the overall.
"We’ve got a long way to go yet but it could be part of the plan,” Ellingworth told Cycling News. “I think it can be done, definitely."
Of Cavendish’s chances, he said: "For Mark, if he’s winning and performing well, why would we not think about going on that journey and trying to be the greatest stage winner in Tour de France history? That dream is still there. He knows it’ll be a hard challenge. If he’s winning at WorldTour level, why wouldn’t we take him?"
Cavendish recent raced the Saudi Tour, at which he helped fellow sprinter Phil Bauhaus to two stage wins and the overall title after crashing twice on stage two.
“I certainly think that last stage, Cav could have won that himself,” said Ellingworth. “I have no doubt at all that his condition is good enough. It was the way the race played out.
"For Mark individually, physically he’s in the right place. He’s got some work to do still, but he’s certainly on track. Then there’s also the confidence around going for that sprint and putting yourself on the line. That’s not easy."
He did however say that Cavendish was showing no signs of the Epstein-Barr virus that has blighted recent seasons.
“The game we’re playing with him is step-by-step," he said.
"In terms of his health, we’ve now ticked that box. He had really struggled on and off – that’s what that virus does, it limits you, you can’t go deep, you can’t back up day after day – but he’s been training well for four months so that’s good. Then you have the race condition, which has not been there for a while, but we’ve ticked that box now.
"He still wants to win for himself. 100 per cent we want to see Mark Cavendish with his arms in the air again. Where that will be and how it will happen, that’s the question."
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6 comments
I really like those vacuum cup tyres. I mean, they wouldn't work, but they look cool. Coming to a Planet X email near you soon, probably.
In other news, the German caption to that video is probably ruder than expected from a family website...
Gazza's nothing if not persistent bless him. I do hope he's not driving today, or parked up and tweeting from his cab.
The clip from Iceland; is it satire or documentary? The same vid could be made a thousand times every day in the UK.
Good latest comments along the bottom of articles.
And when you click on the comment at the bottom of the home page it jumps to the comment section, which never happened to the old website.
And I can easily add an image, this free website just keeps getting better.
Nice!
and you can change your comment threading preferences in your user account now too, should you so desire.
Yay!!