RETURN OF THE KING
Even Mark Cavendish’s selection for 2021 Tour de France was, in the words of cycling writer Daniel Friebe, less of a comeback and more of an exhumation. Cavendish had endured five years of illness, injuries and poor form, and hadn’t bagged a single win between February 2018 and April 2021. Then, having been given the unexpected nod for the Tour, the 36-year-old stormed back to win four stages, seize the points jersey from his young rivals and equal Belgian icon Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins at the race.
The sprinter from the Isle of Man was already a legend of the sport, having won 30 stages at the Tour, 15 at the Giro and three at the Vuelta, as well as the points jerseys at all three Grand Tours, and the world road race title. But Cavendish had been in purgatory ever since his last Tour win in 2016. In 2017 he crashed out of the Tour with a fractured shoulder, following an illegal manoeuvre from his rival Peter Sagan. In 2018 he was eliminated after failing to make the time cut on stage 11. And in 2019 and 2020 he was not even selected. Between April 2017 and August 2018 he was twice diagnosed with the debilitating Epstein-Barr virus, which left him barely able to walk upstairs at home. And in
