2010 Life for Mark Cavendish: The Face of a Franchise . . . and All the Pressure

Mark Cavendish enjoyed a banner 2009 season behind one of the best teams in the sport of cycling, Columbia-HTC. The Englishman was able to dominate in almost every sprint he contested in 2009, thanks to names like Hincapie, Barry, Boasson Hagen, Lovkvist, Kirchin, and others. But all those names and others are gone from Columbia-HTC for 2010, leaving Cavendish to shoulder the load once again for Columbia, but with a less powerful team.

If anyone can go it alone, it's Cavendish. But against other strong sprinters like Petacchi, McEwen, Farrar and Hushovd, all of whom will have strong supporting casts in 2010, Cavendish may find himself having to battle harder than ever for individual results next year.

One saving grace for Cavendish is that fellow sprinter Andre Greiple will return to the Columbia team for the 2010 season. Unlike last year when he was able to race different races than Cavendish, Greiple may find himself leading the Manxman out more times than not in 2010. Columbia will need to help Cavendish as much as they can with who they have left, and Greiple, as a super domestique, would be a great final lead out man for Cavendish in the biggest races.

Mark Cavendish is still the fastest man on two wheels, and losing several teammates won't change that. But often times, to win a race one must rely on a strong team to beat back the other top contenders. Columbia is still a formidable entity, but they are a shadow of what they were in 2009. Therefore, 2010 will likely be remembered as the year that Cavendish proved he is without a doubt the best sprinter on the planet . . . or that even super athletes need a strong team around them.