Cavendish could be a cycling great

Mark Cavendish has left the Giro d'Italia, packing up "his lightweight helmet, his fingerless gloves and his cleated shoes" with a week of the event still to go. Why? Well, says Richard Williams in the Guardian, "Friday's 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia was his 55th day of competitive riding in 2009. Six weeks hence he will be on the starting line in Monaco, requiring every ounce of his strength as he sets off on his quest to become the first British rider to win the green jersey in the Tour de France. And the grand plan says he needs a rest."

The green jersey is given to the rider racks up the most points over the three-week Tour, and is determined by "stage placings and intermediate sprints". It's usually won by "a sprinter with a modicum of all-round ability" and while Cavendish is a specialist sprinter he will have to "work on other elements of the all-round package to achieve his ambition."

Of course Cavendish will have to finish the Tour to be in with a chance, but Williams makes no apology for suggesting that the 24-year-old from the Isle of Man is capable of doing it. He says what the cyclist "is doing is as remarkable as anything currently being achieved by any British sportsman or woman in any field, and he deserves far more than the muted credit he is getting at home."

Abroad, they are already noticing Cavendish's claims to greatness. "Italians were impressed last week when, having suffered defeat at the hands of the local hero Alessandro Petacchi in two early stages of the Giro, Cavendish came back, his pride aflame, exploiting the talent and discipline of his Columbia-High Road team-mates to make the score 3–2 in his favour before both men left the race on the same evening.

"And on Saturday morning, the cycling correspondent of L'Equipe christened him "le Mozart du onze-dents". Those words translate into something rather less poetic: the Mozart of the 11-tooth sprocket, that being the smallest sprocket on the cassette of a racer's derailleur gears, and the one which a sprinter uses to mount his final charge to the line."

This summer could be a defining one for Cavendish and British cycling.