Mark Cavendish (Sky) failed to make it over the climb after a week of hard work for the team(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish did plenty of work for Sky team leader Bradley Wiggins on stage 14(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
World champion Mark Cavendish was all smiles on the stage 4 start line, but he was in a decidedly different mood at the finish having crashed heavily with 2.5km to go.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish worked hard for Team Sky, shutting bottles to the team leaders(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rod Ellingworth talks to the riders before the training ride(Image credit: Richard Moore)
The primary focus of the Sky team leading up to the start of the Tour de France was always to win the overall with Bradley Wiggins. There was plenty of talk regarding the ability of the team to achieve the general classification victory and also repeat Mark Cavendish’s green jersey win of 2011 however, after two weeks of racing it’s clear the current world champion will not achieve that goal. He's won a stage but he's put personal ambition aside to defend Wiggins' lead.
The team has put Cavendish to work in the last few stages, getting bottles from the team car and riding tempo at the front of the bunch. Stage 15 could have been a chance for a second win for Cavendish but instead his team let the breakaway go while he contributed to the pace making. All of this is all part of Cavendish's preparation for his biggest target of the year - to win the Olympic road race in his home country.
In this exclusive video, Sky’s race coach Rod Ellingworth talks to Cyclingnews about Cavendish, his form and how he wants to win in Paris whilst wearing the world champion’s jersey.
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