FEATURE - 'Cannonball Cavendish' aims for new heights

Team Columbia High Road's Mark Cavendish of Britain is seen smiling on the podium after winning the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse cycling race in Bad Zurzach in this June 18, 2009 file photo.

LONDON (Reuters) - Given the electrifying sprint finishes of British rider Mark Cavendish, it is little wonder he is nicknamed `Cannonball Cavendish' and the `Manx Express'.

After a barnstorming start to his career, where at only 24 he is already halfway to equalling Barry Hoban's British record of eight Tour de France stage wins, Cavendish is once again primed to light up this year's race, which starts on Saturday.

In 2008, Cavendish bagged four wins from 14 stages before being hauled out of the race to focus on the Beijing Olympics.

This year, Cavendish hopes his rivals will have to put up with him for the entire three-week race, as he said last month his goal was to make it to the finish on the Champs Elysees.

With two world championship wins on the track in the Madison (2005 and 2008), plus this year equalling Chris Boardman's British record of 41 major career wins, it is easy to see why the Manxman has been touted as the world's fastest road cyclist.

Despite his dazzling form however, Cavendish stays true to his Manx roots.

"I'm not in it to be in Rolling Stone magazine or to be wealthy," he told Reuters last month at an event organised by his team Columbia High Road and the charity Right to Play.

"They might come as a result. But I want to be remembered for what I've achieved as a cyclist."

Cavendish owes a surprising amount to a purple mountain bike that changed his life at an early age.

COMPETITIVE INSTINCT

Former coach and friend Mike Kelly, a talented cyclist himself with three Commonwealth Games appearances under his belt for the Isle of Man, told Reuters that once Cavendish had the right equipment he was unstoppable.

"He was coming last on his BMX but he enjoyed it," Kelly said by telephone from the Isle of Man.

"Then he got a new mountain bike and he started winning. He took to it like a duck to water."

This ignited a competitive instinct in Cavendish.

"There'd be times when he was going away to a top event and he'd say: `I'm going to win this'," Kelly said. "He never let you down."

Kelly tipped Cavendish for the top but had some words for the talented youngster.

"One day I said to him: `You're going to be a world champion, you're going to win a stage in a major tour and you'll win an Olympic medal.'

"Then I said: `Now don't you forget me when you're famous'."

Sure enough, Cavendish went to the 2005 world championships and won the Madison with Rob Hayles.

On his return to London's Heathrow airport, he phoned Kelly with the words: `I haven't forgot you.'

Cavendish has not forgotten his home either, and said living there throughout the northern hemisphere's winter was great as it was the best place to train.

"You can guarantee you go down to the meeting point every single day of the week and there'll be five or six amateurs minimum," he said. "They'll give everything."

FATAL INCIDENT

Out one day in 2005 on such a ride with seven teenagers, Cavendish witnessed the death of up-and-coming 13-year-old cyclist James Berry, killed when a wheel fell off a passing truck and hit him.

"It's so hard when I see his dad, knowing that James would be 17 now and he'd be starting just where I started. It's tragic," he said.

"The other guys saw this at such a young age. I'm in touch with them all the time but we don't tend to talk about it. Hopefully what I do inspires them."

One of the names at the forefront of a British cycling renaissance, Cavendish is undoubtedly encouraging younger riders with his impressive results.

Team Columbia sporting director Brian Holm, who competed in the Tour de France in the 1990s, said Cavendish was a rare talent.

"The way Mark's riding now, the (team) bus driver could take my job and he would still win," the Dane told Reuters, adding that the Manxman's effect on his team mates had been impressive.

"They can now cycle like madmen. When they know he can win everyone goes deeper."

Cavendish hopes in time to be able to give something to charity from his success as a rider.

An ambassador for Right to Play (www.righttoplay.org.uk), which helps disadvantaged children around the world through sport, Cavendish will be in Edinburgh in August to start a charity cycle ride to London, though his training commitments will not allow him to take part.

"I wish I could do more," he said. "If I win races then hopefully I can expose the charity more."