PEZ at the Movies: Project 35

On October 2 this year the Prince of Wales presided over the ceremony in which celebrated pro cyclist Mark Cavendish was knighted. At the time Sir Mark was asked about his future plans for the Tour de France and he told the BBC “I’ve already said I won’t do another Tour de France,” Cavendish said: “That’s public knowledge, I won’t do another Tour de France.” Of course, present on October 29 at the unveiling of the Tour’s 2025 route, Cavendish was coy and was not ruling out another go. This past week his team, Astana Qazakstan, released a video documenting his remarkable record-breaking ride at the 2024 Tour at the age of 39.

Cavendish, nicknamed “the Manx Missile,” has had an impressive career since turning professional in 2077 after a successful track career the previous two years. In all he can boast of 165 victories, the second-highest in cycling history, exceeded only by one Eddy Merckx at 279. Cavendish has won the Points Classification at all three Grand Tours and in 2021 his four wins at the Tour de France tied him with Merckx on the number of Tour stages won. After years of up-and-down results, he was given the opportunity by Astana Qazakstan Team in 2023 to go for a 35th stage win at the Tour and riders were brought in to support him in a team not noted for sprinter talent. It did not end well as Cavendish broke his collarbone in a crash during Stage 8 and had to withdraw. However, team general manager Alexander Vinokourov insisted that Cavendish could not end his career like this and extended his contract for another year. And that 2024 season is what “Project 35” is all about.

The video opens with team training camps and features conversations between Cavendish and his key leadout riders. Brought in especially to support Cavendish, these veterans include Davide Ballerini and Michael Mørkøv, both formerly of Quick-Step, and Cees Bol, previously with DSM-Firmenich. Mørkøv, considered the best leadout man in pro racing, is the same age as Cavendish, and on the verge of retirement, while the others are around 30, so all have considerable experience. The DS is the personable Mark Renshaw, 42, who was also brought aboard in late 2023 and is noted as being Cavendish’s best leadout rider during the Manxman’s heydey.

Cavendish remarks that he was never thinking about the record, which is disingenuous as his 2021 autobiography (his third one!) about that year’s season is subtitled “My History-Making Tour de France,” and, frankly, why would a 39 year old sprinter have a squad built around him except for the opportunity (and publicity for a not-recently-very-successful team) resulting from exceeding Merckx’s tally. One very much has the feel of a “last hurrah” in the video as, frankly, everyone is looking kind of worn. Cavendish is reflective throughout the video. We don’t see the petulant man-child that he often was in the past, notorious for crashing other riders in his aggressive sprint finishes. Rather we see him as an Elder Statesman of Racing, a dedicated family man.

The 2024 Tour de France launched in Italy and the first stage was brutally hard. Cavendish, never a notable racer in the mountains, was in difficulty due to the heat as well as the climbing. While those of us following the Tour thought it might be the end of the project, Renshaw and the others were, in retrospect, experienced enough to know the time limit would not be passed. Still, it must have been harrowing as an Italian teammate blows up entirely but, as we all know, the team persevered and got Cavendish across not only on that day but the following ones. Then on Stage 5 there came the rather unexpected triumph when he rode to victory in the sprint more or less without his leadout train.

35 stages won and we are barely halfway through the video. The next chance for Cav came on Stage 12 but things fall apart as Morkov cannot start due to COVID and teammates get caught up in crashes. Cavendish must a hard effort, finishing fifth but relegated for failing to hold his line.

The remainder of “Project 35” is an anticlimax. With only one goal and that already met, Astana is in the position of just dragging Cavendish across the mountains to the finish of the Tour in Nice. With four wins each by Philipsen and Girmay he is not really competitive against a younger generation but, to his credit, wants to finish the race.

What does the record mean in the end? Mark Cavendish is arguably the best sprinter there has been in pro cycling and winning the most stages a rider has in the Tour de France is an impressive accomplishment. He has bounced between numerous teams where the fit was not ideal, dealt with career-threatening health issues, and went for years with no wins at all so to be competitive at all in 2024 is indeed one for the record books. But in the constant comparison to Merckx it should not be overlooked how remarkable was the scale of the Belgian’s achievements. He not only won the Tour de France outright, winning five times in the seven editions when he participated (Cavendish has done 11 Tours) but won sprint stages, climbing stages and time trials so a very different kind of rider. This does not diminish what Cavendish has been able to do.

What next? Retired top pros probably have things to do—Sir Mark is already an “Ambassador” for carmaker Aston Martin. But with his “Yeah, we’ll see” about riding the 2025 Tour at the reveal on Tuesday it is pretty clear that he still needs the thrill of racing so we will be in suspense for a while. Astana Qazakstan Team had a terrible season, with Cav’s Stage 5 at the Tour its only World Tour level win and only 11 other race victories, so is in real danger of relegation to Pro Tour level. A team with a history of controversy, it has yet to file registration papers for 2025 as of this writing (something that has happened in the past as well). In July there was heavy publicity about a planned major investment in the team by XDS Carbon Tech, a Chinese company based in Shenzhen. The first sign of this seems to be the recent appearance of new X-Lab bicycles for the riders. XDS appears to be a major subcontractor for the bicycle industry, as well as selling a wide range of bicycles under its own XDS brand.

“Project 35” is a nice memento, a slice of Tour de France history, from the standpoint of some top riders, a great DS and Cavendish’s own coach, but also has glimpses of what makes bike racing the great sport it is: the beauty of the scenery, the danger of 65 km/h sprints, the suffering, and the triumphs.

“Project 35”
directed, filmed and edited by Michiel van der Meer
37 minutes, released October 22, 2024

• Available on YouTube: youtube.com

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