On the Mark - the Nairo Quintana of the lens

As we explained yesterday, in the race for the coveted Ultimate Job with CyclingTips, doing flashy, attention-seeking publicity stunts like writing out "CyclingTips" using Strava is somewhat akin to a Mario Cipollini stage win: sure, it gets the gets the crowd excited, but if that's all you've got, you probably won't be joining the peloton in Paris.

All good cycling fans know that the Tour de France is won and lost in the mountains, and the CyclingTips competition is much the same. The big difference is that we don't need to ride up mountains quickly in order to win - we only need to photograph them. This is where Mark comes into his own. Mark, you will discover, is the Nairo Quintana of the lens, the Marco Pantani of the shutter.

Today's post is all about Mark.

Mark is a well-travelled gentleman. He spent three years taking tours all across Europe, including lots of time spent in France. He knows all the best cafes, bars, art galleries and charming little backstreets, from Calais to Perpignan.

On the bike, Mark is a man who loves the flat roads. You can count on him to lead out all the sprints, but as soon as the road turns skyward he'll be the one sitting on the back of the autobus cracking jokes and gasping for breath.

If we are successful in our campaign to cover the Tour for CyclingTips, our first full day on the bike with Bikestyle Tours will see us take on the fearsome Alpe d'Huez. This will be a challenge for Mark (although one which he claims he is looking forward to), but his pain will be for your gain because the view from the top will be superb.

Here's a quick sample of Mark's previous work from around the world, to give you a taste of what to expect:

La Tour Eiffel at night

Enjoying the splendour of a typical Swiss Alp valley

Sunset over the Nile, Egypt

You can see more of Mark's photography here at our Picasa Web Album.

We know that, at CyclingTips, the standard of photography is absolutely first rate, so even with Mark's talents it will require a huge effort to match quality of their staff photographers, but we're willing to give it a shot! (no pun intended)

Until tomorrow, keep pedalling.

Mark&Tom