Mark Renshaw made a global cycling career out of helping someone else win – now he’s retired but is heading back to the Tour de France to try to do it again.
Mark Renshaw can’t keep the excitement out of his eyes. The Australian most famous for leading another Mark – British cycling star Mark Cavendish – to victory in multiple sprint finishes at big races is about to do it all again. Or at least try.
“This is just like a last chance saloon in the sport before Mark Cavendish retires, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Renshaw says as we settle into our prime table at China Doll on Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney’s inner east.as the countdown intensifies to the start of the three-week Tour on July 1, the world’s largest annual spectator event.
More than just a test of the endurance, power and sheer guts of the cream of the world’s professional cyclists, the typically 3500km race is embedded in French culture and offers spectators a glimpse into the beauty of the country’s regions, the language and cuisine. Renshaw is comfortable at our wharf-side table by the time I arrive, and is relishing the prospect of the quality of Asian cuisine not readily available in his home town of Bathurst. He’s looking forward to some spice, and some fine dining without his three kids in tow.
China Doll’s style of sharing plates means some negotiation to accommodate my pescatarian preferences. Renshaw is more flexible. “I’ll eat anything ... as a bike rider I’m not picky at all.”We opt for the New Zealand king salmon sashimi to start, followed by corn and zucchini cakes and chilli salt squid – ensuring plenty of spice. Our waiter tactfully suggests half-servings of each, given we’re also ordering two mains.
“The Tour has evolved, but it hasn’t changed,” he muses. “Ultimately, you still win from third wheel. You still have to launch a sprint at around 150 metres. The basics are still the same.” Early success led to participation in state and then national titles, moving into racing in the velodrome and then the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
That team dynamic was on full show in 2010, when the argy-bargy involved in those ultra-tense last few seconds of a Tour stage made front-page headlines – seemingly for the wrong reasons for Renshaw. “It’s not me who was going to win, it was Mark ... anyone in the race understands that sort of incident. I probably used it as a bit of fire in my belly – I like to prove people wrong, so coming back from that was quite enjoyable.”“In cycling you’re only as big as your last result, the next race is the opportunity,” he says.
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