They were telling him that he was short and a bit overweight, but: Who is Mark Cavendish?

When necessary, he gives clues to his followers about how this job is done, with his technical and tactical explanations. Mark Cavendish always thought about the smallest detail. Where the wind blows, the length of the saddle, the angle of the handlebars... 

Being a great champion perhaps requires being a little obsessive and mastering small details. Even though he did not collapse despite the bad memories he had since his childhood, fixating on such small details prevented him from overshadowing his victories. 

A troubled and broken family, a drug-addicted sibling; Maybe at the very beginning of this whole drama, it was life's signs telling him that he needed to be strong. He never faced those who said he would be a champion. On the contrary, he struggled with those who said the opposite since his early years, and who said that being short and slightly overweight would give him a disadvantage as a sprinter in his first season. There is only one important point for him: WINNING.

Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a sprinter. He is widely considered one of the greatest road sprinters of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.

Born in the Isle of Man, Cavendish started racing BMX bicycles when he was a child. He told his mother, who was making fun of his rival kids beating him, that he would beat them all if he had a mountain bike, and he proved his thesis with the mountain bike he bought for his next birthday, with his ambition even when he was a child.

Cavendish, who started his professional cycling career with Team Sparkasse, a youth team, in 2005, achieved 11 wins in his first professional season, equaling the record held by Alessandro Petacchi. With his stage victories, he deserved to be selected for the Tour de France squad. With the accidents in the first and second stages, the Tour de France abandoned the race when it came to the Alps with the 8th stage. In addition to the road cycling discipline, he participated in the scratch race on the track for the Isle of Man at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The stages he won and his successes enabled him to be included in the Tour De France squad at the beginning of his career.

In 2008, he returned to the track for the world championships in Manchester. His partner in Madison was Bradley Wiggins after his teammate Rob Hayles' blood test revealed doping. In the middle of the race, the duo made an attack by doing the best they knew how and managed to come first with the points they collected in the sprints. Thus Cavendish, from grand tours; managed to get his first major victories by winning two stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France. 

He left the Tour de France short to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Although they came to the Madison branch of track cycling as favorites with their partner Wiggins, they could only finish ninth. That's why Wiggins and Cavendish, who are brothers, left the velodrome that day without speaking. “Cav was always my little brother,” Wiggins said of that day. I will always love him wholeheartedly. However, that day we left the velodrome without speaking, and we still haven't spoken a word," he recalls. 

Mark Cavendish was a surprise addition to the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships squad, but he could not get a medal in either the scratch race or the Madison. Returning to road cycling, the sprint master first won a stage in the one-week Tirreno-Adriatico race and then followed Heinrich Haussler with the last 200 meters left in the epic Milan-San Remo race (the longest road bike race with 298 km), one of the 5 monumental races. He embraced the victory by opening his sprint, which was his job. He made history as the first Manx racer to wear the pink jersey by winning the team time trial stage with his team Columbia-High Road in the Giro d'Italia.

Although he is still at the beginning of his career and a rising star, two biographies were released, "Boy Racer" in 2010 and "At Speed" in 2013. Due to the illness he suffered in the 2010 season and his late recovery, Cavendish set his sights on the green jersey in the Tour de France and the World Road Race Championship.

The biggest duty of a sprinter leader like Cavendish is to stand straight on the handlebars of his bike with the last 200 meters left, pull on the pedals with all his strength, and cross the finish line first, while his friends in front of him are slowly leaving in the sprint train. However, when explaining this seemingly simple event; Trying to do it at 70 km/h when you are at the end of your strength requires great mastery and superhuman effort. 

Mark Cavendish showed us this split-second finish so perfectly that for years it felt like a very simple display. Like an orchestra conductor, he first organized his team and then crossed the finish line with a solo performance, quickly and with excitement that touched our souls. Those who watch a star like Cavendish can feel incredible enthusiasm and adrenaline rushing into their bones. Naturally, the slightest mistake can lead to serious accidents in this great festival. 

While opening a sprint in the last meters of the Tour de Suisse race, he had a heavy accident and crashed hard. Because it deviated from the sprint line, it crashed several of its other competitors and became the target of heavy criticism. Other teams severely criticized him for his aggressive driving style. In the opening stage of the Tour de France, 3 km before the end, he could not take the corner he entered at speed and crashed. He finished second, with a difference of 11 points, to win the green jersey of the Tour de France, which was his goal.

In June 2011, although he was still on the rise in his career, it was announced that he had been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Even though he was still at the beginning of his career, he was accepted by everyone that he deserved this decoration for the successes he achieved on behalf of his country. 

He continued to make history by becoming the first cyclist to win the final stage of the 2011 Tour de France three years in a row, as well as the first British cyclist to win the points jersey. When his team HTC-Road announced that it would close down, the news that the famous star would sign an agreement with the most important and popular team of the time, Team Sky, continued to increase. While this news continued, Cavendish continued his work. He won the London-Surrey Cycle Classic, the official test event of the road race at the 2012 Summer Olympics and part of the London Readys series, with Great Britain. Towards the end of the season, Cavendish went to the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen to win the Rainbow Jersey he so desperately wanted. The 8-man British team controlled the race very well and Cavendish demonstrated his flawless sprint again and became the world champion. With this victory, a British male cyclist became the UCI road world champion for the second time after Tom Simpson in 1965. 

A spectator had a bottle of urine thrown at him during the eleventh stage of the 2013 Tour de France. Thereupon, the entire sports community expressed their support for Mark with their statements.

Mark Cavendish concentrated the season on track cycling as he wanted to win a medal at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. Cavendish, who always tries to win and puts all his effort and struggle for this, competed in the UCI World Track Championships in the preparation phase; They finished sixth in the Omnium and won the Madison with Wiggins. He achieved a total of 30 stage wins of all time in the Tour de France until he reached the mountainous stages. He left the Tour de France on the grounds that he was preparing for the Olympics. He achieved his desired Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by placing second in the Omnium. The athlete, who continued to compete in track cycling after the Olympics, came second in the London 6-day races with Bradley Wiggins in Madison. Then, the duo took first place in the Ghent 6-day race and added to their success.

His subsequent career began to be built on accidents and unsuccessful results, and the decline in his career was now clearly understood. He was heartbroken because he was not selected for the Tour de France, which he had raced every year since 2007. Team performance director Rolf Aldag stated that he was considering choosing Cavendish for the Tour de France, but the final decision was made by the team owner Douglas Ryder. At the end of the season, all this tension and heartbreak rightfully led to a breakup. Cavendish was transferred to the Bahrain-McLaren team, which had a new structure and wanted to establish a good team.

His performance was now signaling that his career was over. He continued to fail to win races and constantly suffered from injuries. He had to choose between being a sprinter crossing the finish line ahead or being a team player and worked throughout the tour for teammate Phil Bauhaus, who led the team to overall victory at the Tour of Saudi Arabia. All this pain and decline is now starting to be seen as a harbinger of the end.

Mark Cavendish, whom we know as he always smiles and puts his hands on his head while crossing the finish line, was saying his farewell at the classic end, this time with sadness and tears. “This could be my last race…” It was such a deep and sad moment that all cycling fans froze at the shocking farewell of the sprint king. With this statement, a piece of everyone's heart broke. 

We can say that the news that Sam Bennet, the Quick-step team's biggest trump card and the fittest sprinter of the Quick-step team, who arrived shortly before the 2021 Tour de France, was removed from the squad due to his injury and that Mark Cavendish would compete in his place, created both a shock effect and was met with shouts of joy. There was a problem that came to mind in this emotional confusion. Does Cavendish have the strength to finish the Tour de France? 

As the stages progressed, the excitement increased as Mark Cavendish was the winner of the sprint stages. The star athlete, whom we are used to seeing with his hands on his head and smiling at the front of the finish line, has rejoined us. That passion, fire, and ambition were back. 

Mark Cavendish reminded us that when we see this man who rose from the ashes like a phoenix, like the beginning of the end and rushes to victories with the spirit of leadership within him, the hope within us should not end, and that there are still victories we can win.