Cycling ace pips Clarke

Cavendish London - Arabstoday Road cycling finally entered the British sporting mainstream courtesy of the Manx Missile. The passion which fuels Cavendish on his bike was in evidence again in front of 850 guests at the BBC’s swanky new Media City studios in Manchester as the 26-year-old collected the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and drew the admiration of the audience. The only previous road racer to win this award in the 58 years of its staging was Tommy Simpson in 1965.   Since then, the sport has  struggled to engage the British sporting public but Cavendish’s extraordinary habit of winning sprint finishes by margins which are embarrassing to his rivals has hoisted him on to a pedestal which cannot be ignored. His margin of victory last night was equally emphatic. His 20th Tour de France stage win in July — only five men have won more — confirmed the first green points jersey ever won by a Briton, while his surge to victory in Copenhagen in September earned him the world road race champion’s coveted rainbow jersey. Cavendish believes that success can be emulated with victory in the men’s road race on the opening day of the London Olympics next July as Britain seeks the first gold medal of its home Games. Cavendish said: ‘I thrive off pressure. It’s the first medal on offer at the Olympic Games and everybody is looking at me and my team to win our first gold. There could not be a more perfect way to go to the Olympics than as the current Sports Personality of the Year. ‘This award is not something you can work for because it’s voted on by the public. It’s an honour given to you. You can’t control that. ‘What is incredible now in Britain is to see so many families and so many kids wanting to get on their bikes. ‘It puts a smile on my face to see that and gives you such pride when you feel so passionate about your sport.’ They may have missed out on the individual awards but, as has become their wont, England’s Test cricketers weren’t about to leave without the evening’s other prestigious gongs. Andrew Strauss’ men were rewarded for retaining the Ashes on Australian soil for the first time in 24 years by being named runaway winners of the Team of the Year. Strauss said: ‘It is a very special award to win when you look at the names who have won it before. The one thing we have all bought into in the past couple of years is that the team is more important than the individual.’ The tactical architect of that Ashes triumph, Andy Flower, was crowned Coach of the Year. Given the shambling disunity surrounding the England football and rugby union teams at the moment, the cricketers might retain the honour 12 months from now if they maintain their position as the number one Test team in the world. Flower said: ‘We have concentrated on a few simple basics. Hard work and a little bit of honesty amongst the group has made them a tougher bunch to beat. We, of course, drive them to train harder and become tougher competitors and consequently they handle themselves very well under pressure.’ Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who also won the Australian and US Opens in a year in which he won 64 of his first  66 matches to claim the world number one ranking, won the Overseas Personality Award. He lived up to its description by being ensconced in an Arabian idyll ahead of a prestigious post-Christmas exhibition event in the UAE rather than braving a chilly Manchester evening. The handkerchiefs were out as Bob Champion was recognised for his charity work with the Helen Rollason Award and again as Sir Steve Redgrave received his Lifetime Achievement Award from  HRH Princess Anne.