Clocking up four times the votes of the second-placed contestant, Mark Cavendish capped off a standout season by dominating the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year [SPOTY] competition yesterday evening. The Manx sprinter proved that cycling is increasingly mainstream in Britain by taking 49.47% of votes, confirming bookies’ prior status as hot favourite.
He became the third cyclist to win the award, following on from Tom Simpson in 1965 and Chris Hoy in 2008. The latter secured the honour after winning three gold medals in the Olympics; Cavendish emulated Simpson’s triumph 46 years ago in taking the SPOTY title after winning the world road race championships.
“I'm absolutely speechless, really,” said an elated Cavendish afterwards. “A few of my team-mates are here and they'll say that's a rare thing! Without these guys this wouldn't be close to possible. Just even to be nominated in the top 10 this year in such an incredible year in British sport, that we can produce so many champions from such a small place, I really am lost for words.”
Competing in what would be his final year as a HTC Highroad rider prior to moving to Sky Procycling. Cavendish had the best season of his career. He won five stages in the Tour de France and achieved a goal he was chasing for several seasons when he took the Maillot Vert of best sprinter to Paris. He also beat Matt Goss (Australia) and Andre Greipel (Germany) to land the rainbow jersey.
In doing so, he became Britain’s first male world road race champion since Simpson outsprinted Rudi Altig in San Sebastián, Spain.
Cavendish also triumphed in several other races in 2011. His wins began with a stage in the Tour of Oman, then he picked up the Scheldeprijs and two stages in the Giro d’Italia. After the Tour, he clocked up victory in the London Surrey Cycle Classics in August, the race acting as an Olympic test event, then picked up the first and last stages of the Tour of Britain.
While almost every recent winner of the worlds had used the Vuelta a España as a major platform to build the form to take gold, Cavendish was able to bounce back from a very early withdrawal from that Grand Tour.
The 26 year old acknowledged the significance of the voting which put him on top. “This is a landmark in cycling, and I take this on behalf of cycling,” he said. “For cycling to be recognised in a non-Olympic year, a few years ago would be unheard of, yet it's happened. Now I see so many people out riding bikes, commuting to work or doing it as a hobby, they can see what it's like to ride. We're so great as a country in sport because we put so much in and you see the returns.”
The Manxman is still officially a HTC Highroad rider but in just over a week’s time he’ll officially, and contractually, be part of Sky Procycling. He’s said that he is chasing three major goals; a repeat of the Milan-Sanremo victory he took in 2009, another green jersey in the Tour de France and the Olympic road race in London.
One of those who will be helping oversee that campaign is Sky Procycling principal Dave Brailsford. He’s also the Performance Director of British Cycling and so worked with Cavendish in the run-up to the worlds. He congratulated both Cavendish and Britain’s junior world road race champion Lucy Garner, who fared well in the voting for the Young SPOTY contest.
“I’m really proud of Mark and he thoroughly deserves this award. Congratulations also to Lucy, who made it onto the top 3 of the Young SPOTY following her cycling success this year. The BBC SPOTY award rounds off the perfect year for Mark, whose cycling achievements have made history.
He became the first ever Briton to win the Green Jersey at the Tour de France, and the first British male to win the Rainbow jersey since 1965. On top of that, he brought his Tour de France stage win tally up to 20 and won the Olympic Test Event in Surrey.”
Breakdown of the vote:
Mark Cavendish 169,152 (49.47%)
Darren Clarke 42,188 (12.34%)
Mo Farah 29,780 (8.71%)
Luke Donald 23,854 (6.98%)
Andy Murray 18,754 (5.48%)
Andrew Strauss 17,994 (5.26%)
Alastair Cook 13,038 (3.81%)
Rory McIlroy 11,915 (3.48%)
Dai Greene 9,022 (2.64%)
Amir Khan 6,262 (1.83%)