World champion Mark Cavendish, who makes his Team Sky debut on Sunday in the Tour of Qatar, has revealed that he has written off his bike in a crash near his Essex home. The rider himself suffered nothing worse than bruises.
The 26-year-old tweeted news of the incident on Wednesday, saying: "So with less than 20km to go of my nice little ride today, I had my 1st crash of 2012. Bike & shoes written off. Not a scratch on me".
"Front wheel went from under me, but kept my body upright, trying to sort of run off of my bike. Obviously, can't run that speed, so went over with a bang, ripping my buckle clean out of my shoe. I say I'm not scratched, but a little bruised. Thanks for concern"
Last year, the start to the Manxman’s season was overshadowed by crashes, with Cavendish suffering cuts and bruises after a heavy fall in Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under in January followed less than a month later by another hard tumble in the Tour of Qatar Prologue.
Meanwhile Cavendish, who will seek to defend his Tour de France green jersey in July, reiterated his ambitions to win the first gold medal on offer at London 2012 in the men’s road race on Saturday 28 July.
"I've won National, European, World and Commonwealth Championships medals — but this is the one thing that's missing,” he told The Sun.
"But I'm not focusing on the Olympics purely because of that. I'm going because it's in London, my own country, and we're one of the favourites to win it.
"I still get a lot of national pride whenever I pull on my GB jersey.
"To do the nation proud, especially with it being the Games' first gold on offer, is a big motivator for me," he added.
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45 minutes of TdQ on Eurosport International here in Singapore, and boy is it boring!
It seems to only be on the pay-to-view Eurosport2 and not on the free-to-air Eurosport... or any other free-to-air channels.
Yeah, covered by Eurosport
Not bothering with fantasy cycling yet this year. I mean, Qatar, seriously? Is it even on satellite TV?
Luckily he landed on his head, so no damage done there!
I noticed someone else tried it on the forum, so thought i might give it a go here
you *mustn't* listen to gkam. ever.
Just checked my fantasy team and he is still there and can be picked.
Also checked the Sky website and no mention there either.
Apparently he's out of Qatar now
Mmmmm. Bet he's had a full scan at hospital as well as denotes his worth. We drag ourselves in with cuts and bruises at get told to pull ourselves together as we're looking after the kids this evening. "Well if you will go out on that stupid bike..."
Better to get the crashes out of the way now!
I bet Cav's idea of a written off bike differs somewhat to that of most of us though! I mean it'd literally have to have the frame snapped in half for me to write it off, and even then groupset and wheels would most likely be salvaged! For Cav, a scratched logo would probably mean a new bike!
I dont suppose they are worried about 9 grand bikes when you compare that the value of Cavs legs tho!