Mark Cavendish wants to make mental health problems more relatable after opening up on his struggles with depression in a new documentary.
In ‘Mark Cavendish: Never Enough’, which launches on Netflix on August 2, the Manxman describes his battle with the Epstein-Barr virus and how a diagnosis of clinical depression left doctors worried about the prospect of self harm.
Cavendish insisted he did not want anybody to feel pity but he hopes the film will reach people suffering with their own issues.
“I’m conscious there’s people in a lot worse situations than me,” Cavendish said. “I don’t want to sit here saying I feel sorry for myself…I’m privileged to have the life I’ve had. What we want the film to show is that depression can affect anybody in the world no matter who you are.”
Cavendish, who has remained silent on speculation he might defer retirement for another year after a broken collarbone prematurely ended his bid to win a record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage, attended a private screening of the film with family and friends in central London on Thursday.
Afterwards, rather than the usual conversations he might have with people about bike rides, the Manxman heard from those who had experienced problems of their own.
“Everyone is human,” Cavendish added. “It doesn’t matter where you are in life, what your background is or what you do. We’re all humans and it’s relatable…
“The irony is that you feel so alone if you suffer when in fact everyone is probably there thinking they’re alone. If you talk you’d be surprised how much you’ve got in common.”
Cavendish has built a career on making split-second decisions at breakneck speeds in the often chaotic world of sprinting. But when discussing depression, he considers each question carefully before answering.
“It’s an understanding that there’s a ladder in the middle of that spiral down and you can get on that ladder and climb up,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at. It’s keeping that hope and good people around you.”
The film chronicles the road to one of the great sporting comebacks as Cavendish won four stages of the 2021 Tour, his first victories there since 2016, to match Eddy Merckx’s record of 34.
In 2017 Cavendish was diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause chronic fatigue. He was cleared to return faster than he should have been, and then struggled to understand his loss of form, leading to depression.
The film is a story of physical recovery but also a process of self-discovery.
A man whose identity was built on winning bike races felt lost when success stopped, describing a “sense of worthlessness”, but the 38-year-old found a way back with the help of wife Peta, their children and his closest friends.
“Absolutely you learn what is important, 100 per cent,” he said. “(Cycling) is my job. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I know I’m incredibly fortunate to do what is my passion for my job but my purpose is to be a husband and a father more than anything else.
“You don’t want situations like what’s in the film but you see the positives at the end of the day. I tend to look at a lot more positives in things and understand what’s fundamentally important. It’s actually quite a nice head space to be in.”
That change of perspective extends to racing too. Cavendish used to relish proving doubters wrong, and there is plenty of scope for that in a film which uses clips from Lance Armstrong’s podcast showing the disgraced former rider frequently writing him off. But Cavendish can shut out such noise now.
“At one point that was a driving factor of what I did,” he said of criticism. “Now it’s not.”
Cavendish was also better equipped to handle the crushing disappointment of his race-ending crash on stage eight of this year’s Tour, a day after he was denied victory in Bordeaux by a skipping gear.
“I watched the Tour every day (after the crash) which I couldn’t have done previously,” the Astana-Qazaqstan rider said. “It is what it is. I was in good form. I had a race-winning sprint the day before.
“Crashing is part of cycling. You don’t want it for yourself and you don’t want it for anybody else, but with success comes those risks.
“You’ve just got to get on with it. It was a freak accident and you’ve just got to stay pragmatic. My job is to try and get fit as quickly as possible and race my bike again.”
On this day 2013: Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announces retirement
Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announced his retirement from competitive cycling 11 years ago, admitting: “I know it is the right decision.”
The 37-year-old Scot had been contemplating continuing until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but revealed he was quitting the sport at a press conference in Edinburgh on April 18, 2013.
Hoy was Britain’s most decorated Olympian after his haul of two gold medals at London 2012 saw him surpass rower Sir Steve Redgrave’s record of five, although he was overtaken by former team-mate Sir Jason Kenny in 2021.
In explaining his decision, Hoy said: “I think in sport at the highest level you’re dealing in such small margins and you can tell when you’re good but not good enough.
“It was very emotional coming in there (to the press conference) and I was trying not to watch the video montage with the sad music.
“I don’t want it to be a sad moment.
“I want to celebrate it and be happy because I know it is the right decision.
“It’s a decision that I didn’t take lightly and I thought about it very hard.”
As well as six Olympic titles, Hoy’s 13-year career featured 11 world titles and two Commonwealth crowns.
Hoy’s final race was the Olympic Keirin final on August 7, 2012 – on the final day of the London 2012 track programme.
Following retirement, Hoy pursued his passion for motorsport, including competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while he has also written children’s books.
In February 2024, the 48-year-old announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Paul extends rich form with double gold; Browne, Campbell also among T&T's medals at PanAm Track Cycling Champs
Trinidad and Tobago’s ace cyclist Nicholas Paul continued his rich early season form as he wrapped up another double gold medal-winning outing at the just-concluded Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Los Angeles, California.
Paul’s medals were won in his customary events, the men's Keirin and Sprint, and followed his fairly successful outing at the UCI Championships in Hong Kong where he recovered from a two-cycle collision in the Keirin to win the Sprint.
The 23-year-old again expressed gratitude for the continued support as he represents the twin island republic with much gusto.
“It is always an honour to represent my country and the Pan American region. Thank you to everyone for all the love and continued support. The Journey continues and the next stop will be the Nations Cup in Milton, Canada. So, I just want to continue putting in the hard work and let it show in my performances,” Paul said.
In the Keirin, Paul topped Colombia’s Kevin Quintero, while another Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Kwesi Browne copped bronze.
However, it took a photo-finish to separate Paul and another Colombian Cristian Ortega for the Sprint crown. Paul bettered his South American rival in the first ride before edging ahead in the second ride on the line by millimeters to retain his title.
Meanwhile, Akil Campbell was also among the medals, as he won a bronze medal in the men's scratch race.
In other results at the meet, Alexi Ramirez finished eighth in the women's elimination race and in the women's scratch race, while Makaira Wallace and Phoebe Sandy placed 13th and 17th in the women's sprint qualification, respectively.
On this day in 2018: Scotland’s Katie Archibald wins Commonwealth Games gold
Scotland’s Katie Archibald added Commonwealth champion to her long list of accolades on this day in 2018.
Archibald, an Olympic, world and European champion in various disciplines, took gold in the women’s individual pursuit in Brisbane, having broken the Games record in a blistering qualifying session.
Her only previous Commonwealth medal was the bronze she won on home soil in the points race in Glasgow four years earlier.
Archibald, then aged 24, said before racing began gold was the only colour she wanted and swiftly delivered, covering the 3,000m distance in three minutes 26.088 seconds to beat Australian Rebecca Wiasak.
She had set the record at 3:24.119 in a qualifying session which saw three riders go under the previous record set by England’s Joanna Rowsell Shand in Glasgow.
“It means a lot, especially in the individual pursuit because it’s not an Olympic event,” said Archibald. “2014 always stands out as a big year for Joanna Rowsell to kind of echo, because she had the title and the Games record.
“You look at the success she carried from that point in her career. I’d be very proud.”
Fired up by his sister’s performance, Archibald’s brother John then added another medal to Scotland’s tally with silver in the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit as England’s Charlie Tanfield clinched gold.
“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her,” said John Archibald.
“The Commonwealth Games record went and they all went better than her personal best so she had her back against the wall but she pulled out and delivered on the day and that got me going.”
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