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Mark Cavendish says he thought depression was “an excuse” – until he was diagnosed with it

Manx sprinter also tells celebrity fitness coach Joe Wicks he has “nothing left to prove” following glittering career

Mark Cavendish has said that he thought depression was “an excuse” – until he began to suffer from it himself. In a BBC podcast with celebrity fitness coach Joe Wicks, the Bahrain Merida sprinter, who is absent from this year’s Tour de France and remains four stage wins short of Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 victories said, “I’ve got nothing left to prove.”

In April this year, the 35-year-old told Matt Dickinson of The Times that he had been diagnosed with clinical depression in August 2018 as he struggled to overcome the effects of Epstein-Barr virus, and said that it had left him in a “dark” place.

> Mark Cavendish reveals "dark" struggle with depression

In the BBC podcast, which you can listen to here, he told Wicks: “If you’d spoken to me three or four years ago, I have to be totally honest, I would have said depression is an excuse; you can snap out of it.

“I was one of those people who doesn’t believe it. For someone who doesn’t believe it to [be diagnosed], it shocks you and you feel guilty.”

He said that one thing that had helped him cope with his depression was having positive people around him, such as his wife, Peta.

“The most important thing is having someone you can talk to,” Cavendish explained. “Even if you’re not talking about where you are, just having someone who you trust and makes you positive.

“You don’t have to talk about your problems. You just need to talk to somebody … A smile can change my whole mindset.”

A number of top professional cyclists have spoken of their own struggles with depression in recent years, including Cavendish’s fellow Manxman, two-time British road champion Peter Kennaugh, and his former sprint rival, Marcel Kittel, both of whom cited their mental health as among the reasons they ceased racing.

> Peter Kennaugh to take “indefinite break” from cycling due to mental health issues

Regarding his diagnosis with Epstein-Barr virus, he said: “I had a massive year in 2016. I got silver in the Olympic Games [in the Omnium]; I was world champion on the track [in the Madison with Sir Bradley Wiggins]; I was silver at the [road] world championships [in Qatar]; I wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.

“Nobody had ever been world champion on the road and track at the same time … It took its toll the year after. The body just said ‘enough’. And I got sick.”

Explaining how Epstein-Barr virus had left him physically exhausted, he said: “It's glandular fever. I got it when I was a teenager … It goes dormant, but it never leaves your system.

“It's like a coward disease ... If you're mentally stressed, or physically tired, when you are at your lowest point that's when it comes back … It came back after that big 2016 … You have to sleep like 20 hours a day … The only way to get over it is rest.”

Cavendish, 2011 road world champion and winner of the points jersey at all three Grand Tours, currently has 30 Tour de France stage wins – the most any rider has ever achieved in road stages, and second only to Eddy Merckx once individual time trials are included.

In 2016, when he won four stages at the race, it only seemed a matter of time until he eclipsed Merckx’s all-time haul of 34 stage victories, but he has not added to his total since then.

The following year, he crashed out on Stage 4 after an incident that saw Peter Sagan disqualified from the race, and in 2018 he was still looking for his first stage win when he finished outside the time limit on Stage 11.

Last year, Dimension Data left him out of its line-up for the race, and he also missed out on selection by Bahrain-Merida for this year’s race, now in its final week.

However, he told Wicks that he has no regrets, saying:  “I’ve done everything I can do. I’ve got nothing left to prove. I’ve got nothing else to do. With anything in life, you’ve got to find motivation and goals. It’s not even anything I planned to do. It’s something that has to come because there’s nothing else to do. I’ve won everything I could possibly win.”

Other topics covered in Cavendish’s conversation with Wicks include how his body has become so attuned to cycling, given it is his job, that he “couldn’t run a kilometre down the road,” although he also confessed that in his opinion he is “not that naturally gifted at cycling,” and “had to work out how to win and how to use tactics.”

He also revealed that he would rather have been a professional motorcycle racer but could not pursue that avenue as a teenager due to cost, that his youngest son Casper is “obsessed with bikes” and that he builds Lego models to relax, including on rest days.

“It’s quite a mundane task,” he said. “You just sit there and you do it … I think [it uses] the same part of your brain that’s used for meditation.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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25 comments

Avatar
wtjs | 3 years ago
0 likes

Cav is a great cyclist, and gave us a lot to be proud of. Lots of cyclists we don't remember are also great, but just that extra edge resulting in winning caused great excitement. Well done Cav- good luck! 

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Harmanhead | 3 years ago
0 likes

boo hoo Cav

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cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
1 like

If "a smile can change my whole mindset" then I don't think he has depression anymore. Having lived with someone who had depression I can tell you a smile does nothing to change their mindset.

 

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Captain Badger replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Absolutely, and "having someone you can talk to", as well as being largely ineffective (certainly in the short term), is a horrific burden to put upon a listener, especially where they don't have clinical training and/or experience. Depression is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition that can last for years. It's not "just the blues".

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mdavidford replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
6 likes

Everyone's experience of and relationship with depression will be different, though. Underneath the depression, the people are still individuals, and just because one person responds in one way to something is no guide to how it will affect the next person.

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cafezinh062 replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
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Maybe so, but I think a lot of people who are depressed say they have depression, which tends to trivialise it.

 

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Simon E replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
1 like

cafezinh062 wrote:

Maybe so, but I think a lot of people who are depressed say they have depression, which tends to trivialise it.

Really?

Saying you have an illness makes it trivial? Try doing that with a broken leg or coronavirus. Trivialisation is when people think they are depressed when they often just have a negative mindset, similarly people talk casually about their OCD when they clearly don't.

Sadly far too many people don't want to admit to depression publicly (and even privately) because of the stigma that is still attached to mental illness. It's one of the reasons for the terrible suicide stats among men. Apparently an average of 83 men a week are dying by suicide in England and Wales.

Peope who haven't experienced real depression or lived / worked with sufferers really don't have a fucking clue. It would be better if they said as much or simply STFU. And judging Mark's mental health based on a few quotes from an interview shows mind-blowing ignorance.

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Captain Badger replied to Simon E | 3 years ago
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Don't want to speak for cafe, but I assumed they meant "Maybe so, but I think a lot of people who aren't depressed say they have depression, which tends to trivialise it."

If I'm correct, this is most definitely the case. A bit like 

"why are you limping?" . "aaah, just a bit of a broken leg. It'll clear up by lunchtime"

Of course, folk are usually sympathetic to a broken leg, and there is little or no stigma (unless of course it was sustained whilst not wearing a cycle helmet). This also enables humour to be acceptable around it. The stigma of depression however ensures that people won't/don't/can't speak up when they are suffering, and of course it is rather difficult to be humourous whilst in an emotional void.

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mdavidford replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
1 like

I thought what they meant was that you can be depressed without having (clinical) depression.

Which is true, but in this case Cavendish has had a clinical diagnosis, and would know best what his experience of that was, and what helped him.

That doesn't mean, though, that what helped him would necessarily help another person suffering from depression.

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Captain Badger replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
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Must admit that perspective didn't occur to me. It's not a usage that I'd employ due to the opportunity for confusion.

Regarding the second part of your comment, very true.

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cafezinh062 replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
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Yes, that's exactly what I meant. You can be depressed about your football team losing or your dog dying etc., but that's usually a temporary condition and totally different to having clinical depression, which is  long lasting and totally debilitating. Cavendish may have been diagnosed with clinical depression but appears to have mostly overcome it judging by this interview. 

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cafezinh062 replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
1 like

What I meant was being depressed isn't the same as having clinical depression. A lot of people say they have depression when what they mean is that they are feeling depressed. To me this trivializes clinical depression.

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Captain Badger replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Yep agreed

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Simon E replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
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Thanks for that, makes far more sense now.

If someone say they are depressed by their football team losing a game then they are using a totally inappropriate word. Disappointed, or maybe saddened at a push, but then again I've never understood investing that much emotional energy in watching some blokes hoofing a ball around. Even the Tour, which is a magnificent spectacle and has plenty of drama, twists and turns and many intriguing narrative threads, is still only some blokes riding bikes. Which is great to watch but really it's all just entertainment. Bread and circuses, plus a huge dose of marketing for brands and products.

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cafezinh062 replied to Simon E | 3 years ago
1 like

Hi Simon, did you read my original post? I live with someone who had clinical depression for over 10 years so I think I'm entitled to an opinion. I believe you may have misunderstood my response to mdavidford. I wasn't talking about people with depression trivializing their condition to keep up appearances, what I meant was people who feel depressed about something saying they have real depression, which in my view trivializes that condition. Your point about the stigma surrounding depression and mental illness in general is very valid and I totally agree.

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Simon E replied to cafezinh062 | 3 years ago
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The comment I replied to today makes much more sense (and explained the first), as I mentioned. That's all.

Opinions are fine, I never said they weren't. And you don't need to live with someone with clinical depression to have an opinion on this topic (though the experience invariably makes a massive difference, as we and others can attest).

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alchemilla | 3 years ago
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I hope Cav finds something positive to do with the rest of his life

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Cargobike replied to alchemilla | 3 years ago
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alchemilla wrote:

I hope Cav finds something positive to do with the rest of his life

Err.......

He's married to Peta Todd.

For those of us of a certain age she used to grace the un-PC pages of certain lads mags and national newspaper, certainly brightening up my day.

If Cav isn't happy jumpimg into bed with that every night, depression is the least of his worries.

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nortonp replied to Cargobike | 3 years ago
5 likes

Did you really refer to Mrs Cavendish as "that"?

You're the one who has mental problems.

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Cargobike replied to nortonp | 3 years ago
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FFS, don't take everything so literally.

It was a joke.

As someone who's suffered his own battles with depression over the years a bit of humour however puerile isn't to be sniffed at.

It's a pity some people have their heads shoved so far up their own backsides that they can't see a joke when it's staring them in the face.

Everyone has a past, including Mrs Cavendish. I'm sure both she and Mark can live with it, perhaps you should too, as it will always be there.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Cargobike | 3 years ago
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Cargobike wrote:

Everyone has a past, including Mrs Cavendish. I'm sure both she and Mark can live with it, perhaps you should too, as it will always be there.

Reminds me of the kid off Outnumbered. Called Tyger Drew-Honey and is the son of two porn stars and could easily have been concieved on camera....

How he managed to survive secondary school is anyones guess. Maybe he invited mates round alot to visit when his mum was around. 

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Captain Badger replied to Cargobike | 3 years ago
3 likes

Love a bit of puerile humour me.

Although I'd not say that objectifying someone (that I presume you don't know) sits in the bracket of "joke". It was a pretty offensive comment to make about another human being, whether or not you are Mr /Mrs Cavendish, or whether or not you have suffered from depression.

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srchar replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
0 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

I'd not say that objectifying someone (that I presume you don't know) sits in the bracket of "joke".

Isn't a glamour model somewhat self-objectifying?

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Sniffer replied to Cargobike | 3 years ago
2 likes

Jokes should be funny.  Your comment didn't fit that description.

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Simon E replied to Cargobike | 3 years ago
0 likes

Cargobike wrote:

FFS, don't take everything so literally.

It was a joke.

It wasn't obvious to me either. Not aided by the fact that too many people really do think that way (The Scum still sells 1.4 million copies per day).  2

Or was nortonp's response also a joke but you didn't realise and took the bait?

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