Dutch analyst Zonneveld criticizes farewell Cavendish: "It was amateurish, put together in a hurry"

Mark Cavendish announced his retirement from cycling last week. The British sprint bomb, good for a record 35 Tour stage wins, did so after a criterium in Asia. That, especially with The Manx Missile's track record, may not end positively with everyone. Thijs Zonneveld, for example, lashed out at the remarkable last few meters of Cavendish in his column.  

In the AD Zonneveld fired away at the issue. Clearly, the question among the comments was: Why didn't he just say goodbye after the Tour? "Mark Cavendish, the best sprinter of all time, said goodbye to cycling last weekend. He had chosen - wait, let me check - the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium for this purpose. But no matter how hard he (along with a few fellow sprinters) tried to make it look epic, iconic, and historic, it didn't work."

Read more below the photo.

Cavendish pictured here with Roglic in Asia

Zonneveld unapologetic about last act of Cavendish: "Outcome is prearranged anyway"

"Even in the interview afterward, in which he tried to sound emotional, you got the feeling you were watching an amateurish constructed scene," Zonneveld continued, who found the stage of Cav's farewell simply substandard. "In almost every pro criterium, the outcome is predetermined. The biggest (and most expensive) names are on the podium; the others are decor."

All of this should have happened at the Tour. And then perhaps right after that fifth, historic stage in which Cavendish achieved his record victory. "Of course, it would have been best if he had said goodbye on the evening of his 35th stage victory in the Tour. On the spot, from behind a Formica table of a French hotel. Had we all remembered him forever? He could also have stopped after the last Tour stage in Nice."

"Or, for my part, at a gravel race in his village. But instead, he sold his farewell. One last cash in a fake race on the other side of the world, like Elvis making one last Tour past shady casinos in Las Vegas before his body gave out." Still, this farewell did not surprise Zonneveld. "But in a way, it also suits Cavendish. He has so many faces. That of an unstoppable champion, but also that of a kamikaze."

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