First win in three years emotional for Cavendish
A hugely emotional Mark Cavendish thanked Patrick Lefevere, his Deceuninck-quickstep team principal, for continuing to believe in him when others did not after claiming his first victory in more than three years yesterday.
The Briton, 35, won stage two of the Tour of Turkey from a bunch sprint to assume the overall lead of the race.
Cavendish has suffered a series of setbacks since his last big year in 2016, when he won the world Madison title, four stages of the Tour de France, Olympic omnium silver and finished second at the Road World Championships.
He lost the best part of two seasons to Epstein-barr virus, broke his shoulder after crashing out of the Tour de France in 2017 and also suffered with depression, which he revealed in an interview with
last year. It looked last autumn as if he might have run out of road. In a tearful interview after Gent-wevelgem, Cavendish admitted he did not know whether he would race again, with his contract at Bahrain-mclaren coming to an end and coronavirus wreaking havoc with the season.
However, the 30-time Tour de France stage winner agreed a contract with his old Belgian team, Deceuninck-quickstep, where he spent three very successful seasons between 2013 and 2015. The 35-year-old finished on the podium at Scheldeprijs last week.
He timed his run to perfection yesterday, surging from fifth wheel to pass Andre Greipel (Israel Startup Nation) and then Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-fenix) on the line.
Afterwards, Cavendish paid tribute to Lefevere. “Some people didn’t think I could get back to winning, but he did and for that I am grateful,” he said. “Just to get back to winning after what I’ve been through in the last couple of years is truly incredible. To win again was emotional and to hug all my team-mates after the finish was amazing.”