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"Riding a motorcycle is a kind of freedom for me," says Keanu, and it's impossible to argue with him here.

Mark Cavendish: I know if I went to the Tour de France, I'd win

Mark Cavendish made his case for Tour de France selection at the British championships on Sunday, both on the road and in his winner's post-race interview.

The Manxman produced an all-action display to claim the second road race national title of his career, attacking from the early kilometres before eventually prevailing in a three-up sprint.

It was a clear indication of his form five days out from the Tour de France, but the likelihood is he won't even be on the start line. Despite winning four stages and tying Eddy Merckx's record of 34 last year, every indication is that Fabio Jakobsen will take the sprinter's spot at QuickStep-AlphaVinyl.
After pulling on the national champion's jersey, Cavendish was asked about the Tour, which gets underway in Copenhagen on Friday.

"I feel so much better than last year and you know what happened last year... I won four stages at the Tour de France and the green jersey," he said.

"It's unlikely I'll go to the Tour de France so I might as well use it today and at least show that the reason I'm not going to the Tour is not because I've got bad form."

While acknowledging his Tour participation as "unlikely", Cavendish nevertheless explained that it hadn't been definitively ruled out, and things are still up in the air.

"I haven't had a call from team one way or the other. I don't know. Normally you get a call to say you're going or not going but this time and I haven't had anything, so I'm trying to stay optimistic with that. But we'll see," he said.

As if his performance on the roads of Scotland hadn't been clear enough, he left no doubt about how he sees both his form and what he could offer at the Tour.

"You can see my condition, that I'm good enough to do the Tour. I know if I went, I'd win [a stage]," he said.

"I know that other guys in the team who go would win. And I'd just be happy with whatever."

And yet, the desire is clearly there. In another revealing comment, Cavendish made reference to the historic feat that lays at his fingertips.

"Can you imagine winning a 35th Tour de France stage in the British champion's jersey. It'd be really beautiful. Those photos would be there forever."

1. The earliest bicycle concept may have been designed by a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci, famous for being a prodigious polymath as much as an artist, took a 10-year old boy named Salaì under his wing in order to teach him about art. While Salaì did eventually become an artist, some of Leonardo’s other talents must have rubbed off on him, because in 1500 AD he produced the first known sketch of a bicycle.

While this history is disputed by some, it’s vigorously supported by others.

2. The first electric bicycle was invented in 1897
Electricity had only been around for 18 years before Boston inventor Hosea W. Libbey used it to power the first electric bicycle. He invented what he called a double electric motor to turn the crank axle, but unfortunately, as with many inventions, it wasn’t commercially viable, and electric bikes didn’t become popular until 100 years later.

3. The first practical bicycle – the Laufmaschine – didn’t have pedals
A German civil servant named Karl von Drais lays claim to the first practical bicycle, with a bizarre contraption that he called a Laufmaschine (“running machine” in German). It looked like a bicycle, but instead of being propelled with pedals and chains, the rider used their feet to push the contraption forward. This amusing image from Wikipedia illustrates how it worked:
The bicycle ended up being commercially successful, and took on the nicknames “hobby-horse” and “dandy horse,” which is odd because it looks and works nothing like a horse.

4. The Laufmaschine was invented because of a volcanic eruption
Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, and in April 10th 1815, it erupted with a ferocious explosion of rock, lava, and ash, ejecting around 10 billion tons of igneous rock. So much ash was released into the atmosphere that it affected temperatures across the world, with the following year becoming known as the “Year Without a Summer.” Crops were affected dramatically, which is believed to have led to the deaths of around 90,000 people, as well as the widespread deaths of horses, which is what spurred Karl von Drais to invent the first practical bicycle—his laufmaschine.

5. Bicycles were used in WW2
When you picture WW2 vehicles, you might think of the mighty German Panzer, boring down on your position as you say your last prayers. Or you might conjure up the dramatic and iconic spitfire and its red-blue circles, cutting through the sky like a dart. But the humble bicycle also played a part in the biggest war of our history, used by both the Germans and the Japanese, as handy modes of transport for paratroopers, scouts, and as a way to transport equipment.

It’s estimated that the Japanese had a total of 50,000 bicycle troops, and while a battalion of 800 soldiers on bicycles might seem amusing, if you saw them cycling towards you, you’d probably still run away.

It is 20 times cheaper to maintain a bicycle than a car. If the number of cyclists was tripled, the rate of motorist-bicyclist accidents would be cut in half. The world manufactures about 100 million bikes each year.