Tour de France: Cavendish to take a lengthy diversion on road to Beijing

Success in Giro gives Manxman the boost to succeed in the toughest race of them all

Of all the 191 riders due to be taking part in this year's Tour de France, only Manxman Mark Cavendish will have spent part of his final countdown in – of all places – a velodrome on a track bike. The received wisdom for riders immediately prior to the Tour's 3,500km marathon is to do as little as possible bar light training, with today's national championships the one exception to the rule.

Cavendish is dutifully following this well-trodden path up to a point: today he's in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, vying for the red, white and blue jersey that denotes the British road-race champion. But last week he was to be found doing track bike tests for the Madison event in Beijing on 19 August, his second big target for the summer.

This is definitely not on the usual agenda for Tour riders, but then again, neither is doing the Tour de France on the usual agenda for Beijing track riders. Cavendish, in fact, is the only Briton to be combining both in 2008. "The best preparation for Beijing for me is doing the Tour," Cavendish says adamantly. "Right now, in any case, I haven't even got Beijing at the back of my mind. I know it's going to be harder for me to win a stage of the Tour than to get a gold medal."

One reason for this is the ultra-high expectations surrounding the 23-year-old in the Tour. After taking 18 wins on the road in just 18 months as a pro, his rivals know that they underestimate Cavendish at their peril. On top of that, expectations in the British fan base are understandably high, given that the last time the UK had even a remote chance of a Tour stage win in a bunch sprint was two decades ago.

In 2007 Cavendish lasted a respectable eight stages in his Tour debut, but accidents, injuries and sheer bad luck made it impossible to go any further. "Last year I was under a huge amount of pressure because of the Tour start in London and because I didn't know what I could acheive. And this time I'm under massive pressure again.

"But it's healthy, even though it adds up to the same. It's because of the results I've got."

If the Tour de France will be Cavendish's springboard for the Olympics, then the Tour of Italy in May was Cavendish's springboard for the Tour de France. It could not have gone better for Cavendish in cycling's second toughest race. He took two of his team's four stage wins, finished second in another and completed the first major stage race of his career.

"Completing the Tour of Italy is as important for July mentally as it is physically," Cavendish says. "I'm the fastest rider in the world in the last 100 metres, and after Italy I don't have any undue respect for any of the other sprinters. It was the hardest Tour of Italy in years, everybody knows that. But I came through it, I did it. I can take part in the Tour feeling a lot calmer."

The question now, though, is how long Cavendish will take part in the Tour without hitting Beijing too burned out from a season which started in February in the Tour of California. Riding the entire Tour has not been ruled out. Cavendish himself says that one likely exit point is between 10 and 14 days. "But I need to be there for the first week at least because that's my best chance of a bunch sprint win," he says.

His approach road to Beijing contrasts sharply with that of his Great Britain and trade team-mate Bradley Wiggins. His partner for the Madison gold medal in Manchester's Track World Championships rode the Giro but will be sitting out the Tour.

But Cavendish's long-term mentor, British Cycling's Under-23 coach Rod Ellingworth, is convinced the Manxman is on the right course. "Mark and Bradley are different animals. Mark thrives in a race atmosphere, and stays focused and disciplined when he's on the road. Bradley likes to disconnect and train on his own terms.

"It'll be harder, too, for Mark to get a Tour stage than gold in the Madison, because they were almost up to Olympic level in Manchester and Mark knows Tour sprints are very different to any others in cycling, much tougher, much wilder. Saying that shows he's not taking a win there for granted." Asked why Cavendish could win Tour stages this year when last year his best Tour sprint result was ninth, Ellingworth says simply: "He's not faster, he was already fast last year. But he's stronger."

"We've improved at getting him in the right position for the sprint in the final kilometres. We keep our own line and stay out of trouble," adds Cavendish's trade team-mate Roger Hammond. "Last year in one finale we lost contact with Mark going over a bridge. That doesn't happen any more. And that's why he's winning more."

Cavendish's track bike try-outs are admittedly unusual during the countdown for the Tour. But Cavendish has always made a point of being versatile as well as ambitious. This is the rider, after all, who combined bike riding with ballroom dancing in his teens – something to think about as he roars (rather than prances) towards the stage finish at 70kph in a week's time.

In one area, the High Road pro is resolutely conservative: what he will be doing after the stages of the Tour. "Video games just wreck your concentration. I'll be doing the old pro routine of having a massage, eating, talking to my girlfriend, then sleeping," Cavendish says. If he starts winning Tour bunch sprint stages after decades of British failure to do so, it will be a big enough break with tradition, even for Cavendish.

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