Prior to the start of the 2011 Giro d’Italia, Mark Cavendish said that the race would be a failure for him if he didn’t manage to take a stage.
He needn’t have worried. As he told VeloNation this morning, he considered that things turned out to be a success as he took a sprint victory, led the race for two days, and was part of the squad which won the team time trial.
That tally improved further this afternoon when he thundered home ahead of Team Sky’s Davide Appolonio, Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) and the rest of the peloton into Ravenna. The sprint was his final effort of the race, as he had already decided to head home, rest up to recharge his batteries, and then knuckle down again to build the sort of form which has already earned him 15 Tour de France stage victories by 25 years of age.
Cavendish was understandably content when he took part in the post-race press conference. He discussed a range of topics, starting with the team’s strength and tactics on today’s stage, his own strategy in the sprint, his characteristics vis-à-vis sprint versus endurance, Mario Cipollini’s claim that he is fat and doesn’t win as much as he should, his plans between now and the Tour de France, his chances of taking stages in three Grand Tours this year and more.
The transcript of that press conference now follows:
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On his stage victory:
I said before the start that we would not get any help from other teams today and that was the case. A group of four went and we had to control that.
One of the big reasons why I win is because I can’t really live with myself if the team rides so hard and I don’t win. I said this to some of the other sprinters today, asking them to put some riders on the front to help us. They said no.
I said that the reason why I have to win is because the guys are working for me…maybe the pressure is good.
We controlled the whole day and then coming into the final, all the others teams came up…sprinter teams, GC teams, mountain teams…every team came to the front to fight for the final. But our team kept it together, like a team that has been riding for five years. They kept it together, they kept regimented, they kept disciplined…we were incredibly powerful in the last kilometres.
Coming into the final, we knew there were narrow corners. We look on Google Maps at the sprints to see what the road looks like. We knew it was tight, and that is why you see…on the corner with two kilometres to go, the Androni guy came at 50 kilometres per hour into the corner and crashed. We were behind him but still got around it as we knew it was a tight corner.
In the final, we had Lars Bak do one and a half kilometres, Alex Rasmussen did one and a half kilometres and took Mark Renshaw to 600 metres to go. Mark Renshaw went…I knew Petacchi was on my wheel. I took a look behind with 400 to go and Petacchi didn’t look so comfortable. I knew he wouldn’t take a long one today and that I could leave it until 200 metres to go.
I accelerated… There was a headwind finish, so I knew they would try to come around me. I jumped at 90 percent, waited for them to come and then I accelerated to the finish. I didn’t really have to do too much today because the team did such an incredible job. I am super, super proud of the guys.
Q: It is not the first time in Grand Tour that you lost the first sprint, and then after that stage you start to win. Is there a reason for this?
MC: Since I began, it has always taken me a good few days to get into a Grand Tour. It is my body type. Naturally I should be a track sprinter, I should be able to just sprint and have no endurance. But I don’t train for my sprint, I never trained for my sprint…I train for my endurance because I have to get to the finish to sprint. It always takes me a few days to get the speed going in a Grand Tour.
Thing is, in this Giro, I was ready to win the first stage. I don’t win a stage because of a lack of tactics. If everyone sprinted in a straight line, I would have won the first sprint. It is not like I didn’t have the form, it was just that Petacchi and different tactics on the day.
For sure I have always got better…with every Grand Tour I do, the further into it I race, the further the margin I win by.
Also, as regards the team as well…normally when we start winning, we start getting more confidence from the first win. Once they get the confidence, things work. We looked at the sprint in the first day…the team discipline was pretty much non-existent. As the race went on, the team gelled together more.
Today we were like a team that has ridden together for five years.
Q: Were you surprised by the Sky sprinter who shot up there at the end?
MC:I wasn’t that surprised about Davide [Appollonio]. He is pretty fast. I wasn’t scared, though. Like I said before, I knew people… I knew Petacchi would come alongside me because there was a headwind. But I knew they would come alongside me, and if I accelerated again then I would get ahead. So I was surprised [at Davide Appollonio], but I wasn’t scared.
Q: Where do you go now after this race?
MC: From now, I go to England tomorrow. I have some stuff there next week, see my girlfriend tomorrow. Then I go to a Tour training camp…in ten days we go and see the first four stages of the Tour de France at the beginning of June. Then the Tour de Suisse, do some more mountains, suffer some more, then the Tour de France…same as every year, really.
Q: Cipollini said you were fat – how do you respond?
MC: If it means I win, then it is okay. Is it better to be second and skinny? Let me remind you that I have the Tour de France in two months. I ride three Grand Tours this year, and I go to the world championships.
I have been racing since the beginning of the season at the Tour Down Under. I am not superman. I was thin for the Classics, I have to be thin again for the Tour de France. I am not so fat now, I don’t think. I can’t keep a high level for ten months of the year.
Without realising it, I think I take the positive side from it. It is good for me that Cipollini says this, because it makes me happy to prove him wrong. It is an added incentive to do more…so I thank him for his concern.
Q: Do you criticise the Giro for the fact that there is no sprinter’s stage in third week of race? Also, will Mark Renshaw be heading home as well this evening?
MC: I don’t criticise the organisation It is a race and the organsation can make how the race they want. The sprinters won’t stay unto the finish, it is as simple as that.
I don’t think the organisation mind...it is about the general classification. If you look at points jersey in the Giro d’Italia, it is not geared towards the sprinters, it is about somebody who wins on every stage.
So the Giro d’Italia is not geared towards sprinters like the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España. That is how it has been for the last few years. For me, I think I have to come here and win the sprint stages, whether they are in the first week or the last week.
Q: It is your birthday in two days. Will you do something special this year?
MC: I will be with my family in my girlfriends house My mother and my family are coming over to celebrate it with me. It is the first birthday I will be at home with my family since I was 17. Last year I was in California, the year before was the Cinque Terra time trial, the year before that we were around this area as well, we did Pantani’s climb. Normally I suffer on my birthday.
Before that I was with my amateur teams in Germany. It is seven or eight years since I have been home for my birthday, so it will be something special celebrating with my family.
Q: You said that you are going for the Vuelta a España this year as well. That means you will be maybe winning stages in all three major Tours in one year, a very rare achievement. Is that something that is a particular target for you?
MC: It would be nice to do. For sure it is a target, because it means winning in those races. I want to win no matter what race I do. But I am not doing all three in order to win stages in all three…but for sure I would like to win stages in each.
Q: Talking about Cipollini…what would happen if you and he were the same sprint together. How would it end up? Would you like to have a sprint against Cipollini?
MC: I think if you asked any rider of my generation if you would like to sprint against Cipollini, they would say yes. I was lucky to get to do this in California a few years ago…I also did some silly things that I regret [passing him in the time trial with one foot clipped out of his pedal – Ed.].
But for sure I would like to race against him, but I don’t know how it would go. I just hope it’s not uphill, because I’m too fat [smiles]…
Anyway, it is nice to know that one of the greatest sprinters of all time is concerned about me…I will take the positive side of that.