John, today's should have an apostrophe. It's a­ possessive noun.

There have been many sporting heroes who have acted­ with passion in their sport. It is part of that drive­ to succeed at all costs. Some get support and coaching­ to learn how to channel this passion rather than­ wasting it. Federer used to throw tennis rackets and­ swear (like McEnroe) until good coaching taught him how­ to use his passion to help his sport rather than hinder­ it. We also see it in Rooney, but he has great support­ and coaching at Man Utd. This is clearly something­ Cavendish needs to work on but he shouldnt be lambasted­ for it. He has received the punishment deemed­ appropriate and that should be enough. I have no doubt­ that he probably would have been withdrawn from the­ race anyway so in a way it gave HTC a good excuse. I­ would like to see the same passion expressed in some of­ these forum comments used on cyclists proven to be drug­ cheats. Surely they deserve the critiscms far more than­ one of the greatest talents in sprinting we've seen­ in a long while.

Sorry, where have all of you "cycling fans"­ suddenly come from? I've never seen the majority­ of these people commenting on the racing.

What a­ horrible, shameful gossip culture we've developed.

John - sorry about the spelling mistakes it must be­ awful for you - or you could just read and make no­ comment like most of us do. You'll be giving Gold­ Stars next!

Just been going through todays comments on this and­ some of those from Saturday and am surprised by the­ number of spelling mistakes there are. Must be footie­ supporters leaving notes.

Number 102 Colin, sorry sport, check your histories.­ The removal of the bowstring pulling fingers was a­ fact, this gave rise to the two finger salute to show­ they could still fire a bow.

The barmy thing is that this gesture is not an obscene­ one but one of defiance, used by the English longbowmen­ against the French crossbowmen, taunting them that they­ still had their 2 fingers to pull the bowstring. The­ French would cut off the two fingers when they captured­ them in battle. So this was a gesture of defiance by­ Mark.

Can't remember last time a report gained 110­ comments. Surely Cavendish is not a sportsman to­ ignore.

Cav's passionate about his sport and his own­ performance. OK, he overstepped the mark but he­ apologised and has moved on. I'd rather see that­ passion than detached and aloof winners. And despite­ the team's response I don't think this affects­ the Sky 'will he won't he' issue at all.

@ Stevej,
no one cares that you got your bike pinched­ mate, now go and get a haircut

please note that Cav was penalised because he­ "reinforced" his two-fingered salute with ­ the "umbrella" gesture! (without it it could­ have been considered just a victory sign...)

Many years ago, when Cavendish was a mere youngster­ coming up through the ranks of the GB track team, he­ bought a second-hand white saddle from me on eBay­ (can't remember if it was a San Marco or a Sella­ Italia)

All those years ago, I was proud of the fact,­ not any longer LoL!

I also used to ride a Brite team­ track frame on the road (for training) Reynolds 853­ Mega Millennium, Dura-Ace groupset, previously owned by­ Olympic gold medal winner Chris Newton ... until it was­ stolen ... buggers! It's almost unique as I had the­ downtube drilled for bottle cage bosses by Deeside­ Cycles. If anyone knows where it is, please let me­ know!

Huge sums of money? That's a laugh. No one becomes­ a journalist to get rich.

Wow vahana33, thanks for clearing that up for me. I had­ no idea that it was out of the goodness of their hearts­ that the media "allow" us to watch, listen or­ read about cycling and had nothing to do with the huge­ sums of money they make by doing it. We all need to­ breathe a collective sigh of relief that there are so­ many cycling fans who are involved in the media­ industry. And here I was thinking that commercial­ television was all about bring people what they wanted­ to watch and not what they so graciously allow us to­ watch.

You make a good point Linda but McEnroe was­ suspended for 2 months in 1987 for misconduct and­ verbal abuse in the US Open. Most people forget because­ he took a 7 month break from tennis. And as a singles­ tennis player, his actions reflect only on him and not­ on an entire team as is the case with Cavendish. It­ would be better to compare the "ban" with an­ athlete on involved in a team sport. The actions of the­ HTC-Columbia team were most likely to calm their­ sponsors but could also have been to avoid additional­ punishment by the UCI as a result of public reaction.

To those of slamming the media, what "media"­ are you talking about? If it weren't for­ TV/magazine/newspaper/internet coverage, we would all­ have to hang out at the finish line of every race to­ find out who won. We all owe a debt to the journalists,­ writers, photographers, commentators, cameramen,­ producers and the rest of the "media" for­ allowing us to follow the sport. When journalists (as­ many of them did) pointed out that Cavendish had only­ won one race before the Tour of Romandie, that­ wasn't a judgment call -- it was a fact. If people­ see that as an attack because they expected more from­ the rider, that's their problem, not the­ writer's.

It's an urban myth that English archers had their­ fingers cut off by the French, the ban hasn't been­ imposed on him by the federation it was his team­ (protecting their commercial obligations to sponsors).­ In sport you have an obligation to be a role model,­ especially to the young, to be honest this shows that­ Mark maybe one of the best sprinters in the world but­ his maturity as a man is indeed some way off, with all­ the in fighting and this I'm sure he'll be off­ to another team soon.

He's a cyclist, and not the smartest kid on the­ block. That said, he really is a silly boy.

he is a great sprinter , and that's all he is at­ the moment, can he go off the front with 70km to go and­ hold the stage to the line,, i think not. can he climb­ ? not that Ive seen, yet he is already acting like he­ is cycling's greatest ever, looks like he will have­ to learn the hard way, if i was in a team with him i­ certainly wouldn't carry him stage after stage just­ so he can pump up his already over inflated ego with­ another so called stage win, he should be dropped­ completely by the pro teams for 5 years and forced to­ hold down a normal job and race at local and national­ level then he might be a bit more humble and appreciate­ what a lucky guy he actually is to have such a talent­ and stop letting his 'spoilt child' like­ attitude from letting him down soooo badly.

This man gets the job done and you thank him by banning­ him?