Mark Cavendish, the best UK cyclist?

So says The Guardian: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/05/27/cavendish_explodes_to_the_fron.html
I'm not sure about that though. My vote would go to Chris Hoy or Victoria Pendleton.

steve peat gets my vote

Nicole Cooke

best british (male) rider in the peloton at the moment. certainly most feared sprinter, awesome achievements. he looked pretty special at the TdB as a stagiare a few years ago, but i didn't think he'd be this good.

"Sprinters are the big beasts, the alpha males. It's not hard to spot them. By comparison with other riders they can look top-heavy, almost clumsy. Like 100m runners they have bulging muscles in the shoulders, the thighs and the calves."

What the hell is this guy talking about? obviously confused with track sprinters, excepting Jan Kirsipuu, how many road sprinters look like that? certailnly not Zabel, Freire, Mcewen, Cipollini or even Cav himself.

he was a petulant arrogant fuckhead in the tour. quite entertaining.

But the Isle of Man is not a part of the UK, it's a Crown Dependency, that's why my passport says "British Islands, Isle of Man" PLATINITRUFAX

Winston, there's a comment in the blog below the article by a guy called GA2G.....that questions whether the journalist was a fraud and hadn't even seen Mark Cavendish in person.

No prizes for guessing who GA2G might be. LOL!

LOL! Japes!

pj (pj), everybody knows that "japes" actually starts with "yi", and you drop the "ja". Obvious mate; bleeding obvious.

what about eddie the eagle? best thing to come out of cheltenham as well ;)

Alive - Nicole Cooke (agree with Winston)

Dead - Beryl Burton

I'm clearly a ladies' man :)

I agree, Eddie the Eagle was a top cyclist.
Hic, hic, blowing bubbles.
You're all my besht friends.....falls down into gutter.

Nicole Cooke is the best british cyclist at the mo. She was won everything at least twice. Hoy and Pendleton can't be far behind, tho.

Cav is showing a lot of promise, but to call him the best is just hyperbole. Millar's done more, as has Wiggs.

Best ever? Robert Millar (KoM in Tour and Giro, podium in Giro and Vuelta), Tommy Simpson and Nicole Cook.

Nicole Cooke is the best british cyclist at the mo. She was won everything at least twice. Hoy and Pendleton can't be far behind, tho.

Cav is showing a lot of promise, but to call him the best is just hyperbole. Millar's done more, as has Wiggs.

Best ever? Robert Millar (KoM in Tour and Giro, podium in Giro and Vuelta), Tommy Simpson and Nicole Cook.
As good as Cooke is she has yet to win either Olympic or (senior) World Championship gold and that's how true greats are recognised in the UK at least.

Sean Yates.

Yates was a super-dom, and won stages in the Tour and Vuelta, but was never a champion live the 3 I mention.

some of steve peats achievements:

3X UCI World Cup Champion
2X European Champ
15 World Cup wins
3 silver world championship medals (should have been gold at least once)
7x winner of the Lisboa Downhill
X–games Gold Medalist
7 x British Champion
7 x British Series Champion
1 x British 4 X Champion

he also runs the steve peat syndicate which nurtures new british talent.
it's a shame about his world championships he's consistent enough to win a world cup run over a season of racing but in the on-off event world championships he seems to crash at the last corner when about to post a winning time.

Mr.Smith are you his dad, or his agent? I'd never heard of him before today, but then again, mtb ain't my thang.

They let women cycle?! Heathens!

Nicole Cook is competing in a team event. Hoy and Pendleton for the most part compete in individual events. Peat always competes in individual events.

Nicole Cook will not win the worlds or the Gold at the Olympics until British Cycling produce a team that is strong enough to support her. At present she's in a class of her own and that makes her a natural target for every attack in every race at this level. she then has to cover all the attacks. It gives her no real chance since she's the only one with the strength to chase them all down. The rest of the women's team are just struggling to stay with the pace.

not true any more, Sharon Laws and Emma Pooley are world class too....

Mr.Smith are you his dad, or his agent? I'd never heard of him before today, but then again, mtb ain't my thang.

no it would be a medical miracle to father a child age 2. and i have never met the guy.
but if you are going to discuss the best british cyclists it's hard to ignore his achievements.

Nicole Cooke is the best british cyclist at the mo. She was won everything at least twice. Hoy and Pendleton can't be far behind, tho.

Cav is showing a lot of promise, but to call him the best is just hyperbole. Millar's done more, as has Wiggs.

Best ever? Robert Millar (KoM in Tour and Giro, podium in Giro and Vuelta), Tommy Simpson and Nicole Cook.

You'd have to add Boardman into that list too really. Hour Record x2 (Athlete's and Absolute), World TT Champ, Olympic Pursuit, 3xTour Prologues.

Cav is the best British cyclist this year, here's hoping for an Olympic Madison title and a couple of tour stages

Depends if you view road racing as the pinnacle of the sport. Uk cycling authorities didn't.
Hoban should be in there.
The UK has never had a truly great road rider (unlike Eire).