Mark Cavendish (Sky) gets warmed up(Image credit: Elmar Krings)
Mark Cavendish looking lean on the stage in Liège(Image credit: Elmar Krings)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) grits his teeth and sprints for it(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) won an exciting stage 2 sprint(Image credit: AFP)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) wins the stage(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) back in the race convoy.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) was one of the riders who hit the tarmac in a crash which shattered the field in the closing kilometres of stage 4.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) suffered an untimely flat and ended up finishing in a group six minutes back.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish worked hard for Team Sky, shutting bottles to the team leaders(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) was one of many riders invovled in the crash in the stage 4 finale.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
In the mountains, world champion Mark Cavendish is a bottle carrier for Bradley Wiggins(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Mark Cavendish greeted by British fans(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish (Sky) failed to make it over the climb after a week of hard work for the team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
World champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) on stage 14 (Image credit: Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish (Sky)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
British flags fly over Mark Cavendish as he is greeted by girlfriend Peta Todd and baby Delilah(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish heads to the line on stage 7(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Team Sky's Mark Cavendish cuts a lone figure back down the road in stage 13(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
He needs little introduction when it comes to the Tour de France. When the Tour began in Belgium, the sprinter dubbed the "Manx Missile" could lay claim to an impressive haul of 20 stage wins - since his Tour debut in 2007. This year he has reportedly lost four kilograms in preparation for the Olympic Games – held just one week after the Tour rolls into Paris. Some have suggested this weight loss has stripped him of some speed in bunch sprints but the Sky rider will tell you otherwise.
Cavendish won’t have the same lead-out support of years past but that shouldn’t stop him from racking up at least one or more stage victories in the next three weeks. History would suggest he needs a few days before cracking his first bottle of celebratory champagne.
He won the maillot vert last year and would love to win it again however, the idea of winning the Olympic road race in Great Britain and his team’s goal of winning the Tour with Bradley Wiggins may relegate this objective to a following year. We’ll know in the coming weeks how his green jersey defence is progressing.
Once he takes his opening victory expect his tally of Tour stages to steadily increase all the way to Paris – if he doesn’t decide to pull out of the Tour in place of pursuing his Olympic dreams.
