Cavendish makes the front pages

As well as celebrity gossip about footballers and the royal family, a regular feature of The Sun, Britain’s top selling “newspaper”, is the Page 3 Girl. Every day a big picture of a semi-naked woman appears on page 3 of the newspaper, to the delights of the largely male readership (and the desperation of the more politically correct).

Am I writing this just so I can include some gratuitous nudity? Not quite, a Scottish reader has emailed in the news that Mark Cavendish is treading a well-worn path for any sports star in Britain and has started a relationship with “glamour” model, Peta Todd:

PAGE 3 girl Peta Todd is dating champion cyclist Mark Cavendish, The Sun can reveal.

The 23-year-old model started seeing Britain’s Tour de France ace just over a month ago. A source said last night: “Their relationship is still in the early stages but it’s going very well. “He makes her laugh and they are having a great time together.” The couple met earlier this year at a Help for Heroes event.

Read the full story here. I won’t comment on the relationship nor the gossip but it will only go further to raise Cavendish’s profile in Britain. Cycling does not get that much coverage in Britain, even in the sports pages at the back of a newspaper. But now Cav is catapulted to the front pages of Britain’s biggest daily.

Curiously Peta Todd is not just a fruity model but seemingly dabbles in financial analysis. Whilst the world celebrated the release of the Chilean miners, Todd strangely appeared in The Sun clad in just bikini briefs to offer commentary on volatility in the gold market.