Manx Machine backs up boast

12:53pm Friday 11th July 2008

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Steven Schumacher in the yellow jersey?

Don’t say there are some more rum goings-on in the Tour de France.

A closer perusal of this week’s time trial showed that the stage winner was not Crewe’s former City midfielder but a German called Stefan.

Though given the lack of evidence that Schumacher the cyclist had such a big performance in his locker, the navel-gazing among Le Tour watchers is inevitable.

With the whiff of suspicion hovering over every turn of the pedal, supposed freak results and unexpected winners are no longer greeted with universal approval.

What has been more reassuring is the form of Mark Cavendish, the so-called Manx Machine, who backed up his boasts about being the world’s fastest rider by winning the bunch sprint into Chateauroux.

An English win may come as a welcome surprise – but it’s no great shock for Cavendish after three similar triumphs in the Tour of Italy.

Cavendish knows he is a world-class racer and seems genuinely perplexed with any doubters.

He said: “It’s the mentality in Great Britain that people don’t appreciate it when they’ve got someone who’s so good.”

That may sound conceited – and he was particularly bolshy with the TV microphone shoved his way after his team blew a winning chance earlier in the week.

Cavendish should mellow the more interviews he gives, particularly in victory.

The way he streaked through the pack in midweek, he is likely to get plenty of chances in the future.