As we write this, many of you might be lounging in front of the television, enjoying the undeniably stunning spectacle of the Giro d'Italia 2025.
To celebrate the 108th edition of this most gorgeous of Grand Tours, we've put together previews of a selection of our favourite Giro d'Italia adjacent pieces from The Road Book. Today we focus on an 'In the Winners' Words' piece from The Road Book 2023, contributed by the brilliant Manx Missile himself. Mark Cavendish breaks down his final Giro d'Italia victory in the shadow of the coliseum in Rome, as only he can.
In May, Mark Cavendish raced the Giro d’Italia for his new team, Astana. It was a brutal edition, raced in awful weather, with few opportunities for the sprinters and a variety of infectious diseases coursing through the peloton. On the second rest day, the day after his 38th birthday, Cavendish announced his intention to retire at the end of the year (a decision he reversed in October, when he announced that he had re-signed with Astana for one further season). Still winless going into the final week of the Giro, Cavendish had one final chance of maintaining his record of having never left the Giro without a win. Stage 21 finished in Rome.
I announced my retirement during the rest day at the Giro. From that moment on, I didn’t take one pedal rev for granted. I didn’t take one spectator for granted. I remember the huge crowds in Bergamo, and the individuals shouting for me. I heard every single voice. I felt every single outstretched hand. The whole Giro was like that, when I realised it was never going to happen again. I absorbed every single person. It’s a special sport, isn’t it?
I’ve always liked the Giro. If there’s one thing the Italians know how to do well, it’s to put on a show. So it’s always nice to ride; the food’s always good, the coffee’s always good, you know? So I always used to like it. It was like a hard three-week training camp. But it’s changed now, as I discovered. It’s like every other race: it’s full gas.
Back when I used to do the Giro every year, it was either a sprinters’ stage or a mountain stage. But then it evolved over the years, especially when Angelo Zomegnan and Michele Acquarone left, it changed a bit. And so I hadn’t done it for near on a decade. Nine years had passed since 2013, but I came back in 2022 and won a stage. I’d enjoyed it.
I don’t even know how many Grand Tours I’ve done now. But I know in the third week of a Grand Tour you start to go catabolic. You can no longer build your form. Your body starts eating itself and it’s just about survival. It’s almost like you have a rev limiter on: you could go all day at that pace, but not above it. I’d decided that I’d go until I started feeling like that, and then I’d stop because any longer would have probably been detrimental to the Tour de France. But it never really came. And that was because I had this wicked group of guys around me. Joe Dombrowski, Luis León Sánchez. Those guys were just there with me when I needed them, so I never had to go deep into the red in the mountains. Gianni Moscon was by my side from kilometre zero in Ortona until the finish line in Rome.
I got to know Gianni at the Giro. He’s quite like myself: he’s got a bad rap, but from people who don’t know the actual person. Gianni’s like me. He’s real. He’s not hiding anything, he’s not going to say what people want him to say. He says it straight, and he’d rather you say it straight to him. That’s the bit that gets lost when you don’t actually know the person. I know that from personal experience. I really like that in him. He turned professional with Sky, and was in the Classics team. They were a group of brothers. They’re a lot of the guys that I grew up with. We grew up learning the values of the bonds you have as a team. Gianni has those values. We go into battle together. Whatever your strengths, weaknesses, ambitions or goals might be, we do it together. Collectively. Win and lose together...
There you have it! If that doesn't wet your appetite for the Giro, we don't know what will. You can read the rest of Cav's brilliantly entertaining piece in The Road Book 2023, which is available now. It is always a pleasure to have Mark contribute to The Road Book. If you haven't yet read his first hand account of THAT Tour de France stage win from The Road Book 2024, what are you waiting for? Get one quick here. Stay tuned for all things Road Book, Giro d'Italia and maybe even a little bit more on the greatest Tour de France stage racer of all time...
Images courtesy of Russ Ellis
