Tour De France 2012: Mark Cavendish Won't Repeat Last Year's Stage Success

Sprint master Mark Cavendish won five stages in last year's Tour de France, but he will be lucky to win one this year.

The Manx Missile has grown accustomed to winning stages at the Tour; he has won 20 of them in his career. But perhaps that is why he won't have as much success at this year's Tour. 

I don't mean this to say the success has gone to his head or made him complacent. In fact, Cavendish seems as competitive as ever. He just has his focus set on success at a different event.

I'll let Cavendish himself expand on this topic, in this quote from The Telegraph's Joe Hare: 

"

In cycling the Olympics doesn't rank highly, it is not a prestigious event, but as a Great Britain athlete to compete for the flag I was born under, is a big thing.

It brings extra motivation. That is why I am changing [my training]. I will not be as successful in the Tour de France as I have been in the past.

"

Cavendish also states in that article that his change in training has led to him losing weight, which will help him for the Olympics but strip him of some of his amazing sprinting power. 

Cavendish has tweaked his training because the course at the Olympics is going to require some climbing skills, but that isn't the only thing working against Cavendish in this Tour. 

He has switched over to Team Sky, where he is not going to be the sole focus of the team. He will be sharing the spotlight with Bradley Wiggins, who should be a contender for the overall title. 

This means less specialists to help Cavendish get in position for his big sprint finishes. The Manx Missile is still going to be a formidable sprinter, he just won't have the kind of success we are accustomed to seeing from him at the Tour de France.