Mark Cavendish is a British Sportsman in the mould of Andy Murray. Almost exactly two years Murray's senior, Cav is less often on in the spotlight given his career as a road cyclist and the frustrating dearth of coverage the sport is given in the UK. When he does make the headlines, however, he does so for similar reasons to Murray: the British public - used to a string of lovable losers, or gentlemen as the softies like to dub heroes like Henman - seem unable to handle the level of bloodlust that drives Cav to be the best. Murray too suffers from such a backlash: He's dubbed "moody", "arrogant, "rude". Well, maybe they are all those things, but one thing they are for sure is winners. Both men manage to make Britain credible on a world stage that is dominated by the cool-headed continentals. We Brits are so often the plucky runners-up that when a ballsy, no-nonense bloke from Blighty steps-up to the plate and serves out seven helpings of Old Aunt Bessie's Right Royal Hidings and then flips his defeated opponent the bird before assaulting the press with a barrage of expletives, we turn bright red and do what we can to distance ourselves from the men, whilst embracing their historical achievements as if they were our own children.
Cav has endured an awful lot of bad press this year, following explosion onto the world cycling scene in 2009 when he won 6 stages of the Tour de France, thus confirming the flashes of elite talent shown the previous year in which he won 4 stages of le Tour. His credentials are superb - almost unrivalled in British history in his category. He is the fastest man on two wheels, the Bullet, the Manx Machine, but the press don't like his brashness; his 'disrespectful' riding style; his recklessness.
He was blamed for a major crash in the Tour of Switzerland and fined for the incident, which, on reflection was probably only half his fault. His reputation was as muddy as his twelve-year old knees might have been when he first got in to mountain bike racing. But Cav - a surprisingly vulnerable character as demonstrated by his emotional breakdown post Stage 5 - has battled through the criticism and is learnng to let his riding do the talking. He's got some way to go before he keeps his mouth shut after the wheels stop turning, but should he even try to placate the naysayers?
He's not a bad person; he's not even a nasty guy. In fact he is charming; a gentleman; a good laugh. Cav's only problem per se, is his passion. And that's waht makes him awesome. We should embrace the fire; douse it with petrol; stoke it where we can. Murray's the same: we should gee these guys up: if they need to be angry or pissed off or carry a chip on their shoulder to compete at the highest level, then let them get on with it. How nice it is to aspire to emulate a true battler's achievements, and breaking down in tears when all that hard work and dedication fails to pay off, rather than accepting a simpering straight sets loss to a lesser player who had more bottle on the day.
Cav is a hero, as is Murray. For once I am proud and excited to be a British sports fan.
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