September 2011
Mark Cavendish world champion
On a June evening three years ago Rod Ellingworth and I arranged to meet at junction 37 of the M1. Rod wanted something from me, and because I was heading north and he was going south, that is where we'd agreed he'd pick it up.Rod is one of British Cycling’s top coaches and the man who trained, mentored guided and has been the sounding board for Mark Cavendish throughout his meteoric cycling career.
Having looked at the 2011 World race championships in Copenhagen, Rod came up with Project Rainbow Jersey, a plan to get Mark Cavendish the most prized rainbow jersey on the planet on a circuit that suited him down to the ground.
That weekend Rod had called together the list of riders, from which a team would be picked in 2011, for a meeting in South Wales. Rod needed them to buy into the project, and he wanted some inspiring iconography to make an impact and fire up their desire. That’s where I came in.
Rod knew I had some film of the only British racer ever to win the pro worlds, Tom Simpson, and he knew that I had one of the silk rainbow jerseys Tom won in San Sebastian in 1965. Rod wanted to borrow them to kick off the first get together by showing the film, having the framed jersey at the front of the room and putting forward a proposition. If Simpson could do this 40-odd years ago, surely we can do it now.
Well, they have. Hats off to Rod and Mark and everybody else who made one of the greatest days in British cycling history possible. The two jerseys look good together don't they?
