Should Mark Cavendish not realise his Olympic dreams in London this summer, he can take solace in the fact he now features in his own stamp collection.
The set of seven stamps have been produced by the Isle of Man Post Office in recognition of his recent achievements, which include capturing the green jersey at the Tour de France and winning the road world championship.
The stamps range from 38p to £1.16, and if you buy a souvenir sheet you'll get something extra. The £1.05 stamp shows Cav in the rainbow stripes of the world champion and features the ‘augmented reality’ technology recently demonstrated in MBUK magazine. By scanning your smartphone over the stamp (on the souvenir sheet), it’ll being to life through video the scene in Copenhagen last September when he took his greatest victory to date.
Cavendish said: “I’m proud to feature in this stamp collection and delighted with the images which have been selected. It’s a great honour for me personally, but it’s also a reflection of the widespread interest in cycling now - and that’s always great to see.”
Elsewhere, the 38p stamp sees Cav winning gold for the island at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, while the 41p stamp shows his first professional victory at Scheldeprijs a year later. For 65p, you’ll see him claim what was then his biggest win – Milan-San Remo in 2009, while 71p gets you an image of him in green at the end of last year’s Tour. The £1.16 stamp – the most expensive in the range – sees him taking his first spring classic win for Team Sky, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
The collection goes on sale on 19 June and can be pre-ordered at www.iomstamps.com.
