To many sports fans with a passing interest in Cycling the last two years of the Tour de France have really managed to capture the imagination, and on both occasions the winners have been worthy of the crown. Cadel Evans last year as the first Australian to win the Tour and Bradley Wiggins this year becoming the first Englishman have helped revive the event, and have highlighted great sportsmanship.
Add to that the fourth victory in the sprints for Mark Cavendish and pictures of him with Bradley Wiggins and the romance came back to sport. These two cyclists were the dynamic duo who won a world championship title together and then despite being labelled as certainties to win Olympic Gold, blew it, and then fell out with each other and would not speak for months. No matter how bad a loss in competition friendship should never be sacrificed as a result.
Their making up and success on the Tour could spell bad news for Australia at the Olympics, but it will no doubt give the cycling events added interest. These two have been described as ‘the twin peaks of British cycling’ and they could set the Olympic cycling event on fire in their home country.
The road race is a unique Olympic event, as it is the only team event in which just one member of the winning squad ends up with a gold medal. On this occasion Cavendish is the man who has been nominated to take that honour and he will be propelled towards that goal by his team mates including the first Briton to win the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins. They do say a week in sport is a long time, and Wiggins has always known his role, so he will not be green with envy for his team mate.
