Mark Cavendish sets his sights on Tour de France history after a disastrous year of illness and broken bones

The Manxman is heading to Abu Dhabi to begin his season and tells The Independent he is hoping to put last year's troubles behind him with a haul of 'multiple stage victories' in France

Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan collide at the Tour de France (Getty Images)

There is a photo taken during stage four of last year’s Tour de France which seems to be pretty damning. It's an image of several riders sprinting for the finish line, and two stand out: Peter Sagan, hunched over his handlebars with an elbow peculiarly poked out to one side; and Mark Cavendish, his bike at a 45 degree angle as it tumbles.

The photo seemed to confirm what most people thought they knew: that Cavendish had taken an elbow to the head at 60km/hr which sent him crashing into metal barriers and thudding on to the road. Sagan was disqualified from the Tour within hours. It did little to heal Cavendish’s wounds, but at least justice had been served.

Or maybe not. In December, with the furore long blown over, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) quietly ruled the crash “an unfortunate and unintentional race incident”. The decision was based on previously unseen video footage which Cas did not release, and neither Cavendish nor his Dimension Data team were consulted. “The past is forgotten,” Sagan declared.

Cavendish hasn’t forgotten, though he is reluctant to talk about the moment his Tour de France came to its painful end. He did recover from the broken scapula he sustained to make an autumn return at the Tour of Britain, but is yet to return on the World Tour. Now he begins his full comeback, with all roads leading to his favourite stomping ground, the Tour de France.

Mark Cavendish has won 30 stages on the Tour de France (Getty Images)

He admits that the time spent away from his bike last season – he also suffered badly with glandular fever earlier in a “horrible” year – has taken its toll. He effectively missed out on the best part of a year of racing, and believes there is only one way to discover the true effects of the turmoil.

“After such a slow year, we’ll have to wait and see how my form is coming into this year,” Cavendish tells The Independent, speaking on route to the Abu Dhabi Tour. “Not because I haven’t trained over the winter, but because if you miss a year it really affects your base level.”

The race in the United Arab Emirates begins next month and provides an opportunity for the Manxman to test himself again. “I feel good, training’s gone well this winter, but I really won’t know how I feel in the race until I actually race there.”

Cavendish has set his sights on the Tour de France, and not only to make amends for lost time. His total stage wins on the Tour remains at 30, four behind Eddy Merckx’s record. It is possible he could match the legendary Belgian this July and make history.

There is no rush. The 32-year-old has time on his side to achieve the feat, and took encouragement last week from the sight of the 35-year-old Andre Greipel winning on the streets of Adelaide. But it is not getting any easier; sprinting is as competitive as ever with Sagan, Greipel, Marcel Kittel (the latter pair will both be racing in Abu Dhabi) and plenty of others all chasing the same scraps thrown to the peloton’s power-men.

“My main focus is the Tour de France in July, and being in my best condition in July,” Cavendish says. ”Obviously there are times I’m going to peak during the year, especially the beginning of the year, so I want to do well at the Abu Dhabi Tour, I want to do well at Milan-San Remo.

“But the main objective of the year is definitely to go and win multiple stages of the Tour de France.” It would be a fitting way to put a lost year behind him.