Mark Cavendish has announced his retirement from professional cycling, ending his career at the Tour de France Criterium in Singapore this weekend.
Cavendish was initially set to retire in 2023 but postponed that after crashing in that year’s Tour de France. He went on to win his 35th stage at the Tour de France last summer, surpassing Eddy Merckx’s record.
“Sunday will be the final race of my professional cycling career,” Cavendish said. “I am lucky enough to have done what I love for almost 20 years and I can now say that I have achieved everything that I can on the bike.
“Cycling has given me so much and I love the sport, l’ve always wanted to make a difference in it and now I am ready to see what the next chapter has in store for me.
“Thank you, everyone, for all the support, always.”
The Manx rider has won 165 races in his career including the 2011 world road title, while he claimed Olympic silver for Great Britain in the omnium at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
While collecting his knighthood in October, Cavendish reiterated that he will not compete in the Tour de France again, saying: “That’s public knowledge, I won’t do another Tour de France.”
He added of his career: “I am very fortunate to have got to do what I love for so many years, and to see other people inspired by that and riding bikes themselves.
“Seeing how many people ride bikes now, seeing the growth of cycling in this country now and seeing how successful we’ve become at it… it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of that.
“It wonderful. I’m just a lad from the Isle of Man, to be a Knight Commander, that’s not something I could ever have dreamed of.”
Cavendish’s best cycling moments
By Sky Sports’ Nigel Chiu:
2009: Six Tour de France stage wins
Cavendish made his road breakthrough in 2007, two years after he turned professional, and soon became the rider to beat on flat stages.
He won his first Tour de France stage in 2008 with Team High Road and 12 months later the ‘Manx Missile’ tasted victory six times at the Tour.
His dominant victory in the Champs-Elysees that year put him on 10 Tour wins already and Cavendish was arguably at the peak of his career.
2011: World champion in Copenhagen
The World Championships road course rarely suits the sprinters but the 2011 route in Copenhagen was made for the fast men.
Cavendish went into the event having won another five Tour stages, plus the green jersey for the first time, so had a target on his back.
It was a manic finish and Cavendish had to ride the wheels of his rivals, including Matthew Gos and Andre Greipel, before emerging from the pack on the right-hand side in the final 100m to win.
In doing so, he became Britain’s first world champion on the road since Tommy Simpson in 1965.
2012: Fourth consecutive Champs-Elysees win
2012 was a disappointing year for Cavendish because he was unable to contend for a medal at the Olympics as other countries forced Team GB to bring back the breakaway, a tactic which failed to work.
He was also with a new squad – Team Sky – and did not have the same success compared to previous seasons as the team’s first goal was to protect Sir Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France.
On Stage 18, Cavendish had a stunning win when he chased down the breakaway in the final 400m after help from Team Sky.
Following Wiggins’ Stage 19 time-trial victory, the yellow jersey was sealed and on the final stage at the Champs-Elysees, Team Sky went all-in for Cavendish.
The iconic picture of Wiggins in yellow helping to lead out Cavendish in the final kilometre is etched in many cycling fans’ memory and, as expected, Cav stormed to victory to make it four Champs-Elysees wins in four years.
2016: Olympic silver in Rio
Cavendish had a disappointing record at the Olympics going into 2016, having finished ninth in the men’s madison in Beijing 2008 with team-mate Wiggins and having the disappointment of London 2012.
He split his 2016 season by riding on the road and track, with one eye on competing in the velodrome at the Olympics in Rio.
Cavendish rode in the omnium for Team GB and had to settle for silver behind Italian Elia Viviani. He was “super happy” with the result though as he banished his Olympic nightmares.
In the same year, Cavendish nearly became world champion for a second time on the road, narrowly losing out to Peter Sagan in a sprint.
2021: Silencing his critics
It looked like Cavendish was going to have little success in the final part of his career as he went through a number of crashes, injuries and illnesses between 2017 and 2020.
He revealed he had been diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus in 2017 and struggled to climb stairs or play with his children. At the same time, other sprinters had now come to the fore.
In 2021, he returned to Deceuninck-Quick-Step and was not going to be selected for the Tour de France. But, the team’s lead sprinter Sam Bennett suffered a knee injury, so Cavendish was called up.
To everyone’s surprise, Cavendish won Stage 4 at the Tour, his first victory at cycling’s most famous race for five years.
He went on to win three more stages and equalled Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage victories at the Tour to underline his status as one of the greatest riders the sport has seen.
2024: Breaking Merckx’s record
Cavendish narrowly missed out on winning a stage on the 2023 Tour, then crashed and was forced to abandon.
That was set to be Cavendish’s last Tour de France, as he announced his retirement ahead of the race. However, he changed his mind and decided to continue racing in 2024 for the Astana Qazaqstan Team.
After a difficult season prior to the Tour, Cavendish was not expected to be on top form.
But on Stage 5, he suddenly hit the front at the end in a messy sprint finish to hold off Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff to break Merckx’s record and move into a league of his own.