Unstoppable: Mark Cavendish Setting New Standards for Cycling's Fastest Finishers

Columbia- High Road's sprint ace Mark Cavendish has had an amazing first half to his season, and the 24 year old sprinting phenom is showing no signs of slowing down. He recently took his lucky 13th win of the season yesterday in the Tour de Swiss, handedly beating some of the fastest finishers in the sport.

Cavendish has long been known as a huge emerging talent, but over the course of this season he has shown himself clearly to be the fastest man in cycling. When delivered to the line by his team-first Columbia squad, there are few in the sport that can hope to match Cav's turn of speed over the final 500 meters. A former track star, Cavendish has made the transition over to the road scene seamlessly, and it is looking like he will notch approximately 20 wins a season for the foreseeable future.

In previous years it seemed as though Cavendish needed perfect conditions to take a big win, but that has changed in 2009. At the year's first monument of the season, Milan-San Remo, not only did Cavendish prove that he could make it over the climbs with the first group, he also proved that he had plenty left in the tank, as he single handedly chased down Heinrich Haussler to take the victory at "La Primavera." It was a shocking an unexpected win for the Englishman, and one that firmly established him as one of the top riders in the world.

Perhaps the best part about Cavendish is that he comes to win at each and every race he enters. There seem to be no off days for Cavendish, and he is just as intense in early season stage races as he is in the grand tours. A win is a win to Cavendish, and he plans on taking as many as he can throughout the course of his career. He took 17 wins in 2008, and it is he'll likely approach 25 this year, impressive for a one year improvement.

Some people are put off by Cavendish's perceived over confidence, but a closer look suggests that it is simply confidence, not over confidence. He is not afraid to speak his mind, and he knows his limits, but he also is keenly aware that he is far superior to most other sprinters in the game of cycling. If his natural ability to dominate make his outwardly confident, who can blame him? 

As Cavendish continues to notch win after win ahead of the Tour de France, his confidence is improving every day. He'll be very tough to come around in France in July, and a green jersey title will surely be within his grasp. He has stated that stage wins are more important to him this year than the green jersey, but with enough stage wins the green jersey classification will take care of itself. 

The only real problem for Cavendish these days is managing expectations. A man, not a machine, Cavendish is now expected to win races at big time events, and that type of pressure could one day get to him. For now he seems to be handling the expectation to win without issue, but all that could change were he to have a small gap between wins. In fact, if he can't manage at least one win in the Tour de France, which is not easy to do, he would likely be slammed by the media and his fans alike.  He'll have to continually be reminded by teammates and coaches that winning is hard, and it can't happen for every race. Whether he'll be able to come to accept that fact may determine not only the length, but the quality of his career. For now though it is all systems go for the "Manx Missile" as he continues to win everywhere he races.