It's a sunny morning in Dubai, and Mark Cavendish is minding his own business at the start of stage four of the UAE Tour.
The former world champion is used to a lot of attention at sign-on. Typically, there’s a bustle of fans, many holding British flags, swarming for autographs and selfies. Outside the Dubai Police Officer’s Club, though, Cavendish’s clientele is different.
Two of the institution’s residents make a beeline for the Manxman. Two police dogs have sniffed him out.
For many, the prospect would be daunting. “Why me?” one might think. Others might gulp as the paws step closer.
For Cavendish, though, there is no need to worry. Tails wagging, tongues flapping, two harnessed spaniels have come to greet him. He reaches down and ruffles their ears, something he seldom does with human fans.
Shared on X by his team, Astana-Qazaqstan, the video is heartwarming and joyous. Cavendish grins like a child as he strokes the dogs, the only appropriate way to react to such a canine interaction.
The moment might have made him think of his pair back home. For readers who haven’t been keeping track of riders’ pets, Cavendish is the owner of two guard dogs. Expensive ones, too, apparently.
His first, a German Shepherd, is reported to have set him back £25,000. His second was slightly cheaper, coming at a price tag of £20,000. He once referred to the duo as his “puppies” in an Instagram story, but they’re hardly the kind that would make the front cover of a calendar.
Sadly, although the Emirati spaniels brought Cavendish joy, they couldn’t bring him good luck. The 34-time Tour de France stage winner finished 21st on the stage, a host of riders back from the day’s victor, Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier.
Elsewhere on social media, British cyclo-cross champion Cameron Mason eats birdseed, Lorena Wiebes pines for chicken nuggets, and Tadej Pogačar shows himself as capable on one wheel as he is on two.
1. Dogs are barking mad for Cav
2. Now there's a film we'd like to see. If Timothée Chalamet was on the WorldTour, he'd definitely ride for EF Education-EasyPost, right?
3. Dune 2 isn't out for another week or so, but we're hoping for plenty of scenes like this
4. Luke Rowe is all of us when our GPS takes us onto a cobbled street
5. Astana-Qazaqstan here with one of the tightest dialled leadouts in the peloton
6. It's a tough life for Lorena Wiebes
7. A helmet thief, you say? Someone fetch the police dogs
8. Is there anything Tadej Pogačar can't do?
9. If that's birdseed, then call me a bird
10. Puck Pieterse made a mission of sneaking onto cyclo-cross podiums the day before the races and posing for pictures. Here's her wonderful gallery
11. This is a hugely satisfying bar drop compilation from GB track sprinter Sophie Capewell. 10/10, would watch again
12. And finally, over to Mark Stewart, cycling's true romantic
