With 17 stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, Mark Cavendish has raised his arms to the sky in quite a few Italian cities. Among them is Fano, Stage 5 of the 2012 edition. To tell the truth, earlier on that day, it was rumoured that CannonBall might pull out of the race due to the crash he suffered in Horsens (the race had started from Denmark) a couple of days before, ending up on the ground in the final sprint, knocked out by a sudden movement of Roberto Ferrari.
Battered, injured and fresh from a sleepless night, the sprinter from the Isle of Man still took the start of the stage and not only did he finish it, but went on to win the final sprint, beating Matthew Goss and Daniele Bennati. “Ferrari? Everything is ok with him, he apologised to me,” he said after the stage. “Without that crash I could be in the Maglia Rosa now, which was a goal of mine. I’m not afraid to take risks in the sprint, the problem is those who put other people’s lives at risk…”.
Cavendish will finish that Tour with three victories, continuing the build-up of his record-breaking 163-win career (and counting…): “I don’t know if I’m among the strongest of all time and I don’t really care,” he said that day. “I want to write the history of this sport and be in the record books”. Well, he definitely is!
FOLLOW THE SIGNATURE’S CHECK LIVE OF STAGE 12 OF THE GIRO D’ITALIA 2024 HERE.
