The man with the Cav tattoo gets a call from the Manx Missile

Thursday 28 October 2021

A Jersey cycling enthusiast, who recently fulfilled a promise to get a tattoo of his hero Mark Cavendish, had a surprise on Saturday when the ‘Manx Missile’ himself got in touch.

Paul James, a 31-year-old personal trainer at Healthhaus, got a large, colourful tattoo of the Tour de France legend copied on his left thigh a couple of weeks ago.

And last weekend - while Paul was watching the latest Venom film at Cineworld - ‘Cav’ himself got in touch to thank him for his out-of-the-ordinary support.

Explaining how and why the winner of 34 Tour de France stages got in touch, Mr James said: “I used to work in Fotosound and the boss always used to put the Tour on all the televisions because it was so colourful.

Pictured: The large image of Mark Cavendish on Paul James’s left thigh caught the attention of the man himself.

“I didn’t understand cycling at all back then but I could tell Mark Cavendish was incredible, the way he would cut through the peloton. It was like his competitors just moved out of the way because they knew they couldn’t beat him.

“I’ve always been a positive sports fan and even when Cav was ill, seemingly set to retire and crying at the end of the Ghent-Wevelgem race last year, I still believed he could come back.

“So when he re-signed for Deceuninck - Quick-Step I posted on Twitter and told my girlfriend and a couple of mates that if Cav returned to winning ways, I would get a tattoo to honour the comeback this season.

“I’d have been happy with a single stage but he won four Tour stages and the green jersey!”

Pictured: Mark Cavendish has won 34 stages of the Tour de France, which equals Eddie Merckx’s longstanding record.

Paul got the tattoo done over 6½ hours by Gareth Thomas at Monsters Ink in New Street on 15 October and Tweeted about it shortly afterwards.

He tagged both Mr Cavendish and the Manxman’s wife Peta, who sent him a direct message joking if Paul was “trying to beat her in the dedication stakes”.

She then asked for his contact details, giving Mr James a suspicion that the man himself might get in touch.

Pictured: Paul is now a keen cyclist himself, having been inspired to take up the sport by Mark Cavendish.

Sure enough, on Saturday - while Mr James was in the cinema - his phone vibrated. He missed the call and joked to his friends that it was probably Mark Cavendish.

Ringing the number back via FaceTime, the Manx Missile himself appeared on the screen.

Paul, who rides with the Jersey Rouleurs cycle club, said: “I said straight away that the conversation could go one of two ways: it was either going to be positive or he might take out a restraining order against me, but Cav was really enthusiastic and said he was humbled by what I had done.”

@BenjiNaesen IT IS DONE!!

Ode to my idol @MarkCavendish who overcame adversity to prove he’s still the GOAT. @petatodd hopefully he likes this.

I said if Cav won another race this year I’d get a Tat of him..He won 10 ????#MarkCavendish pic.twitter.com/O3AX9JHRJ6

— Paul James ???????? (@JerseyPaul90) October 15, 2021

Pictured: This Tweet was seen by Mark Cavendish's wife Peta, who got in touch with Paul.

“He said he really liked the tattoo and appreciated the gesture. We then talked about cycling for a few minutes and why he had inspired me so much.

“He then said he’d send some stuff over, which I think will be some bib shorts and a copy of his book.

“It was crazy what happened and it’s something I won’t forget in a hurry.”