It’s early evening when I speak to British dance music pioneer, Pete Tong, squeezed in the minutes on his schedule between a spin class and a sound bath in central London.

The room is scattered with cameras and laptops and notebooks lying open on their spines. But when I ask Tong about cycling, he’s transported somewhere different, eyes in the middle distance, remembering the chopper bike he’d ride around North Kent on as a kid, to the Specialized StumpJumper he’d tour round Richmond Park two decades later.

“Probably in the late 90s, I became aware of the rise of Lance Armstrong - that kind of just reached me somehow," Tong smiles, taking me through the timeline of his love affair with cycling.

"It's a bit like getting into cooking through Jamie Oliver. It was like the sport of cycling kind of came into my consciousness, and I started to take an interest in him and the Tour de France. I was going on these rides on my mountain bike, seeing people come by on their racing bikes in their lycra, and I just realised, what the f*** am I doing? I've got to switch.”

Tong is world-famous. Despite being the BBC’s longest serving DJ, with his own signature saying and dance orchestra, the 65-year-old is calm, thoughtful, relaxed. Whatever impact the decades of late-night sets and Ibiza partying has had on him, it’s impossible to tell.

He puts it down to cycling: “It’s kind of an antidote, really. It’s kind of meditative to get out on a bike, and know that because you were going to get out on a bike the next day, you couldn't go to the after party, so it kind of kept me sane."

Tong’s cycled in Ibiza, in the Cotswolds, all around his old London home, but the best place he’s ever cycled was - indisputably - California.

“I lived in West Hollywood, and I could go up onto Mulholland, going to Griffith Park, and then going out to Pasadena and into the mountains there,” he explains. “The riding is absolutely mind blowing. And that's the only thing I really miss about America. And obviously the weather - even in the winter, it’s a perfect cycling day: blue sky, cold-ish, but not too cold.”

Tong has cycled in more places than most people I know. A life of international travel allows that, but work comes first, and Tong still dreams of tackling Mont Ventoux and L'Étape: “I've just got to clear the decks and just make sure it happens somehow.”

But every summer, Tong’s two loves come together at Joyride Festival. The Ibiza weekender brings together pro riders, Michelin star chefs and wellness experts for a weekend of group rides and evening parties on the island. With tickets starting at £2,300, the exclusive event is beyond the bounds of many of us, but for Tong, it’s an opportunity to party with his heroes - and chase them up climbs too.

“The first celebrity cyclist was Mark Cavendish,” Tong remembers. “We didn't really know what to expect. I just thought it was going to be a laugh when I first got told you get to cycle with him, and then you get to play some records. But we had the most amazing night. Mark Cavendish was in the booth with me the whole night. He grew up listening to me, and he was crying. And I was like, what the f*** is going on in here?! It was amazing.”

The following year, Geraint Thomas came out, followed by Peter Sagan. This summer, Wout van Aert will be coming to the island.

“I'm surprised, he's doing it, but I'm very pleased he's been allowed. I wonder what his team manager will think when he sees him at a rave."

The next wave of tickets for Joyride Festival will be available on the 30th January here - for events both on Ibiza and the Isle of Wight.

Over the last few months, the topic of financial change within professional cycling has been routinely aired. In early November, Jérôme Pineau proposed the privatisation of the final five kilometres of Alpe d’Huez. Just last week, Wout van Aert shared his concern over the “fragility” of the sport’s financial format with De Tidj.

Now, in an interview with the Financial Review, Mark Cavendish is adding to the financial fervour. “There are revenue streams that aren’t being properly utilised,” he said, on the topic of starting a possible future team. The sport the Manx retiree envisions, however, would look different to the current offer, more akin to high-spectacle, king-maker sports like Formula 1.

“Something I never really understood with cycling is that you were more likely to get a [professional] contract based on quite subjective decisions,” he said on the difficulty he faced on securing sponsorship as he aged, despite retaining "marketability". “Sport is run 100 per cent on media spend. So even though I was winning as I got older, I couldn’t get contracts because I don’t think any team wanted the risk of me not winning."

Cycling, in other words, might produce superstars, but the industry lacks the impetus to capitalise on their existence. "I don’t mean this arrogantly but that didn’t make sense because I was always valuable to a sponsor. There were a lot more people making a benefit from sweat in my last years than I was.”

At the moment, most of a rider’s income comes from their teams. The money teams get comes from sponsors, and the income generated at races tends to stay in the pockets of the race organisers. The legacy of this scramble for sponsorship funding has contributed to the Lotto-Intermarché merge, and the complete closure of Arkéa B&B. The French media estimated that ASO earned about $350 million in 2023 - a sum most teams didn’t see a proportion of.

“Spectators come to watch the race to see your riders, but your riders don’t get paid anything. That’s what’s unfair,” Pineau said in a podcast interview with RMC Sport. “Hospitality areas are set up at the Tour and other major races, but it’s the organiser who takes the money, not the people who put on the show.”

“This winter is a real battlefield of people losing their jobs,” Van Aert told De Tidj. “I think that fragility would be far less if income came not just from sponsors but also from the sport itself. From TV rights, for example, or other sources, so that losing one sponsor doesn’t immediately put a team on the brink.”

As Cavendish looks to Formula 1 as an enviable structure that could be in part mimicked in cycling (insofar as individual athletes are able to explore alternative income streams), Van Aert looks to America's National Basketball Association (NBA): “it controls its playing field while still letting the teams benefit from TV money.”

“But in cycling, we might be too focused on its charm and folk character. Charging five euros for entry doesn't mean it’s no longer a people’s sport.”

The UCI boss David Lappartient disagrees. “A legal framework needs to be established,” he told Ouest-France. “Charging for public space in France is complicated. It’s not impossible, but it would be a revolution. Just look at the pension reform … So if you want to charge for the Tour de France, you’re in for a long haul.”

If you've been following bike racing this season with any consistency, the chances are you have at some stage thought to yourself: 'This UAE Team Emirates-XRG lot, they're quite good, aren't they?'

Well, that has just become even more of an understatement than it was last week, because as of Brandon McNulty's overall victory at the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg on Sunday, UAE Team Emirates-XRG have now won more races in a single season than any other team, ever.

The tally, as it stands, is 86 victories, surpassing the 85 recorded by the Columbia-HTC team back in 2009.

You'd be forgiven if your knee-jerk response to this goes something along the lines of 'well, Tadej Pogačar... duh'. But that is not the reality. Of course, the Slovenian played a significant role, notching up 16 of the 86 wins – including of course his imperious fourth Tour de France victory in July.

Any team setting this record is likely going to have a star like Pogačar. Back in 2009 Columbia had Mark Cavendish, who with 23 took a far greater share of the wins than Pogačar has.

But no less than 20 UAE riders have crossed the line first this season, so far. That represents huge strength in depth that has turned UAE Team Emirates into a winning machine.

They began winning from the word go, with Jhonatan Narvaez taking a stage and GC at the Tour Down Under. Among the honours that followed were major Classics wins (Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, thanks to Pogačar), stage race GC victories (Juan Ayuso, Tirreno-Adriatico; Pogačar, Critérium du Daupine and Isaac Del Toro, Tour of Austria) and of course the Tour de France. The list is very, very long.

Impressive, of course, but not everyone is convinced this is a good thing. My colleague Adam Becket wrote a piece earlier this month questioning whether we ought not introduce a budget cap for teams, after UAE won a third of the stages in the Vuelta a España.

And with UAE Team Emirates still to take part in the Il Lombardia and the Tour of Guangxi WorldTour races, as well as the Trofeo Tessile & Moda and the Coppa Agostoni .1 events – all next month – this number could rise further.

Unsurprisingly, the achievement was not lost on the team and its riders, with McNulty quoted on the team's website as saying: "It's very special to be part of the team to break the record and even more special to be the one to do it."

Team CEO and principal Mauro Gianetti added: “Reaching 86 victories in one season is an extraordinary milestone, and it reflects the incredible commitment and unity of everyone in this organisation – from our leaders in the UAE to our riders, staff, sponsors, and supporters.

"This record is not just about numbers, but about the consistency, the sacrifices, and the belief that have carried us through every race. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together, and this moment will stand as a reference point in the history of our team and of cycling. We will enjoy it, but also remain motivated to keep pushing for more.”

If you want advice on riding your bike fast, you could do worse than ask the greatest sprinter to ever do it.

This July, Sir Mark Cavendish is offering fans a chance to join a free – yes, free – cycling experience with him inside the Grand Palais in Paris, France. There will be a meet-and-greet with the 35-time Tour de France stage winner, an indoor group ride, and a chance to ask him for sprinting tips, as part of a “cycling masterclass”.

The opportunity comes as a result of a new collaboration between the Tour de France and Airbnb, the holiday rental website. Together, the two brands are staging unique ‘experiences’ throughout this July’s race – and the masterclass with Cavendish is the flagship offering.

“I've experienced numerous victories and unforgettable moments with the Tour de France, but I've never had the opportunity to cycle in the Grand Palais during the Tour de France,” Cavendish said in a statement. “I am incredibly excited to share this exclusive Airbnb experience with guests.”

Sign-ups to the Cavendish event open next Tuesday 27 May at 5pm BST, and will be available through the Airbnb website. Only 20 guests will be able to join, with places allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The experience will take place on 26 July, the evening before the Tour de France culminates in the French capital. This year’s final stage, it was announced this week, will stray from the usual processional finish, with three ascents of the punchy Butte Montmartre climb planned.

Fans will meet Cavendish outside the Grand Palais, where he will share stories from across his 15 Tour de France participations. There will then be a warm-up session on turbo trainers, during which time the Brit will teach “the art of sprint cycling”.

After a few laps inside the glass-roofed palace, fans will sit down for another chat with Cavendish, and gain a closer look at the bike he rode to his record-breaking 35th stage win. Each person on the experience will leave with a signed jersey and VIP tickets to Sunday’s Tour finale on the Champs-Élysées.

As well as the Cavendish event, the Tour de France and Airbnb are offering similar experiences with retired French pros Thomas Voeckler and Steve Chainel.

The trio aren't the only pros getting up close with fans this year. In October, the world’s top-ranked cyclist, Tadej Pogačar, will challenge fans in a race up his favourite climb in Slovenia. Entries to the ‘Pogi Challenge’ are open now.

Three men who robbed Sir Mark Cavendish at knifepoint at his home in November 2021 have been told that they must repay £750,000 within the next three months or each face an extra six years in jail.

Wearing balaclavas, Romario Henry, Ali Sesay and Jo Jobson broke into Cavendish’s house in Essex while he and his family were asleep before attacking Cavendish in his bedroom. Cavendish had a zombie knife held to his throat before the trio stole two high end Richard Mille watches, worth more than £700,000, as well as other items.

The three men were all jailed in November 2023. According to a BBC report, the gang of robbers have all now been told that they must repay £754,525 within the next three months or face extensions to their prison sentences, a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court said.

Two phones, worth £2,325, an empty safe and a £2,200 Louis Vuitton suitcase were also all stolen from Cavendish and family.

Speaking in a hearing in Chelmsford, Judge Alexander Mills said that the trio took "joint control" of the stolen property which meant that they then "obtained the benefit" from the violent incident that they had committed.

Henry previously claimed that the stolen watches had been sold, although Judge Mills said that the two items were "never located at the scene and have not been seen since" and that they would act as a "store of wealth".

Mills said that he believed the convicted trio had all benefited financially from the robbery and attack on Cavendish’s home.

Discussing the trio’s finances, Mills said that all three of the men could pay the £754,525 sum outlined in the hearing. It was revealed by Mills that Sesay owned a Mercedes car worth £1,000 and had £24,750 in cash, but Henry had no assets. Along with Sesay’s items, the BBC report states that Jobson was said to have an unspecified amount of cash in a bank account which was seized by authorities.

Mills also ordered £1,897 in compensation to be paid to Cavendish and £3,359 to his wife, as well as an unspecified amount to the company who are understood to have leased the watches to the couple.

Henry, 34, was previously told he must serve a prison term of 15 years while Sesay, 30, is now serving a 12 year term.

Jobson, who went on the run after the home invasion, was handed a 15 year jail sentence in a separate trial to the other members of the gang.

In a previous interview with The Telegraph, Cavendish said that he had regular flashbacks to the incident. After the trio were handed prison terms, Peta Cavendish said the crime had "turned a loving family home into a constant reminder of threat and fear".

"No family should ever have to go through what we went through," she said. "But no matter what the sentence was, any parent will understand, I'm sure, that no time in prison could make up for what they did to us that night."

Over a decade has passed since Ineos Grenadiers last sent a sprinter to the Tour de France. The year was 2012. The rider? A 27-year-old Mark Cavendish, racing in the world champion’s jersey for the then-called Team Sky.

Cavendish won three stages that edition, including the closing one on Paris’s Champs-Élysées. The following year, he signed for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, Team Sky nailed down its focus to GC domination, and the team never brought a sprinter to the Tour again.

That could all change this July. A late recruit to Ineos Grenadiers’ roster this season, Caleb Ewan has begun his campaign with intent. Victory on debut at Coppi e Bartali was followed on Tuesday by a first WorldTour win in three years at Itzulia Basque Country. Now, the 30-year-old says, his big ambition is to make the Tour squad, following in Cavendish’s footsteps.

“In an ideal world, if all goes well, I can go to the Tour de France. That’s my goal,” Ewan told Cycling Weekly last week at the launch of SunGod’s London store.

“I don’t know exactly what their plan is, and I guess it depends on how everyone’s going in the team, what kind of direction they want to go for when it comes to that.”

From 2012 to 2019, the British WorldTour squad ruled over the Tour, winning seven out of eight editions through Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal.

That stranglehold has slipped in recent years, however. Ineos Grenadiers' highest-placed finisher in 2024 was Carlos Rodríguez in seventh. Stage wins have also proved hard to come by, with the team's riders collecting four over the last five years.

“In an ideal world for [the team] as well, I will also get to a really good level that they think I can compete for wins at the Tour,” said Ewan, already a five-time stage winner.

“I think there are maybe seven or eight opportunities in the Tour for a sprinter. That’s seven or eight opportunities, if I can be going good, that the team has extra. I think they’re really on board with that as well, and I think they’ll definitely try to help me try to get to that point.”

After a winless edition in 2024, could a rejuvenated Ewan bring the spark Ineos Grenadiers need?

The Australian’s calendar will see him race the Tour de Romandie, Four Days of Dunkerque, Tour of Norway, and the Baloise Belgium Tour before selection for the Grand Tour is made. If his form continues, his claim for a spot will be compelling.

“All I can do is try to win as much as possible and prove that I deserve to be there,” Ewan said.

Thirteen years on from the last, a winning sprinter would be a welcome addition for the team.

Mark Cavendish has said he still gets flashbacks from a “horrific” armed robbery at his family home in Essex in late 2021.

The now retired sprinter had a zombie knife held up to his throat during the raid, in which masked thieves stole two watches worth £700,00, as well as a Louis Vuitton suitcase, phones and a safe.

Three of the four intruders have since received jail sentences of between 12 and 15 years for their roles in the crime. A fourth man is still out for arrest.

Speaking about the incident in an interview with The Telegraph, Cavendish said he felt “helpless” under the threats.

“I get flashbacks all the time. To have a zombie knife held up to your throat in front of your kid?” he said. “It was horrific.”

“You think about what you could have done [differently]. Everyone thinks, ‘I’d fight.’ And of course I was swinging at first. But I tell you, anybody gets a knife held to their neck, you can’t do anything. Like, my wife’s there, my kid. I was helpless to do anything.”

The robbery took place in the early hours of the morning of 21 November 2021, when Cavendish was asleep with his wife Peta and their three-year-old son Casper. During one of the thieves’ trials, the court heard a statement from Peta in which she said her husband was told: “Do you want me to stab you in front of your kid?”

The sprinter has now said he considers himself “lucky because I was there”.

“I’m happier I was there than if it happened to Peta and the kids when I was away. I would never have forgiven myself,” he said.

Cavendish added that the thieves were looking for a specific Richard Mille watch, worth around £2 million, which he was loaned for an award ceremony, but had already returned.

After the intruders’ court sentencing, held throughout 2023, Peta Cavendish said that the crime “turned a loving family home into a constant reminder of threat and fear”.

"No family should ever have to go through what we went through,” she said. "But no matter what the sentence was, any parent will understand, I'm sure, that no time in prison could make up for what they did to us that night."

Essex Police are still searching for a fourth man, George Goddard, in connection to the robbery.

What’s next for Sir Mark Cavendish? It’s a question cycling fans have been asking themselves for years. The first whispers came in October 2020, when on a torrid day out at Gent-Wevelgem, the teary-eyed Manxman said he had just finished “perhaps the last race of my career”. Fans gasped. What will he do now?

Hindsight, of course, tells us it wasn’t his last race. There would be the comeback Tour de France in 2021, when he won four stages and drew level with Eddy Merckx’s all-time stage win record. Then came the national title he won from the breakaway in 2022, the Giro d’Italia stage win in Rome in 2023, and the unfortunate crash out of the Tour later that summer. He was scheduled to retire at the end of the season. Was that the last we’d see of Cavendish? What would come next?

Again, hindsight tells us there would be more. Another year with Astana-Qazaqstan, another crack at the Tour, and another stage win. Finally, the outright record was his. Fans, content with their hero's achievements, could watch him hang his wheels up with pride.

That moment came this November, at the Singapore Criterium, where Cavendish sealed off his career with a ceremonial victory. “I’m really looking forward to what the rest of my career holds, just not on the bike,” he said afterwards. And so, once again, the question is rippling around cycling: what’s next, Mark?

The answer, fans will be glad to hear, appears to remain within the sport. Asked about his retirement by The Guardian this month, Cavendish said: “Obviously I’ve still got a lot of life left, and I still have to provide for my family, and so I think that’s going to be in cycling team management. I know the sport and I know how to build a team and that’s where I’m heading. It’s exciting.”

It’s an idea the 39-year-old first revealed in October. Then speaking to Men’s Health he explained he’d known for "the past few years" what he wanted to after his road career.

“I’ve set the wheels in motion,” he said, pun likely unintended. “I want to stay in management in the sport, I still love it. I brought a lot of people to this team [Astana-Qazaqstan] over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful. I’ve been building up to the moment I’m not racing.”

It’s true that Cavendish has slowly been constructing an empire within Astana-Qazaqstan. The first hint of that was the signing of Vasilis Anastopoulos as the team's head of performance in October 2023. The Greek coach had previously worked with Cavendish at Quick-Step, where he was instrumental in guiding the sprinter to his comeback Tour in 2021.

More recently, two of Cavendish’s close friends have joined the team’s staff, both on his recommendation; former Hour Record holder Alex Dowsett will be a performance engineer from 2025, while Cavendish’s fellow Manxman Pete Kennaugh will take on his first WorldTour gig as a sports director.

So does this mean Cavendish will help manage the team in 2025? Well, probably not.

Speaking to Cyclingnews, Alexander Vinokourov, the manager of the now named XDS Astana, confirmed the Brit won’t be part of the team’s staff next season.

“We have a good relationship with Mark, he was very important to us,” Vinokourov said. “But sometimes it’s not easy to find an exact role for someone in the team and that was the case with Mark.

“Mark didn’t want to just be an ambassador for the team, Mark wanted to be part of the decision-making structure, but that wasn’t possible yet.”

Yet…? “We still have a good relationship and we’ll see what happens later. Maybe in the future,” the team boss added.

What this points to is a potential job within XDS Astana, but not next season. It’s a solution that likely suits Cavendish, too. An original member of the British Cycling academy in 2004, the Manxman joined his first road team in 2005, and raced for 19 relentless years. It's probably time for a break.

So dedicated was Cavendish's approach to cycling, that his family life has been fleeting in recent years. His coach, Anastopoulos, once joked that he had spent more time with the sprinter than his own wife had. Now, Cavendish told The Guardian, he’s looking forward to sharing the “beautiful intensity” of family life with his wife.

“Peta was with me in Singapore, and we were in Japan the week before. Those two weeks are the longest we’ve ever spent together, just us two, and I want to do more of that with her,” he said

His social calendar is starting to fill up for the year, too. In January, he’ll travel to Australia to join in the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Santos Tour Down Under. He has also committed to running the Paris Marathon with his brother in April. “I will always ride my bike, but I want to run now,” he told Men’s Health.

So, if you're hoping to see the Manx missile in a team car in 2025, don't hold your breath. He's got a life outside of cycling to enjoy first, one he now leads as a Knight Commander. Rest assured – if Vinokourov's hints are anything to go by – Cavendish could be back in the thick of it in a not-so-distant future.

There was a surreal moment during the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year ceremony this week that I need to discuss with you all.

It came late in the evening’s proceedings, when Mark Cavendish received his Lifetime Achievement award. If you’ve missed this story, or you’re from across the pond, let me bring you up to speed.

The ceremony, hosted by Britain’s public service broadcaster, recognises the top British athletes of the past year. Cavendish was snubbed for the main prize, which he previously won in 2011, but was lauded for his career contribution to sport. It made for a fitting tribute.

When the sprinter made his way up to the stage, he was greeted by a who’s who of British cycling. There, dressed in their most dapper attire, stood Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny. Four legends with 21 gold medals between them.

They applauded and congratulated the Manxman, and watched on as a highlight reel of his career was broadcast into the room. Cavendish did his speech, a particularly endearing one. Then it was time to look back at the big screen for a special message.

A special message? I wondered. But from who? All the legends are there, I thought. Maybe it’s Mark Renshaw, or Michael Mørkøv, one of Cavendish’s trusty lead-out men? No – that would be too niche for the British general public.

What about his family, his wife, Peta, who has supported him throughout his career? Probably not, she was standing on the stage, wedged between Wiggins and Hoy. Could it be Geraint Thomas? I was stumped.

The camera panned up to the big screen, and the special message began. The video cut away. A Liverpool Football Club training shirt flashed up on the television. It’s Virgil van Dijk. What on earth is Virgil van Dijk doing here?

Well, it turns out, the Dutchman’s a cycling fan, and a big admirer of the Manx missile. “Yes Cav,” he began, “it’s Virgil here.” So surprised was I to see the Liverpool captain, that I scarcely paid attention to the next words out of his mouth, but I’m sure at one point he called Cavendish “a true GOAT of cycling”.

I Googled ‘Virgil van Dijk cycling’ after the show, and there’s little to suggest the pair are close friends. In fact, Google was so sure I’d searched the wrong thing, that it started giving me results for Ellen van Dijk, the three-time world time trial champion. Was it all a fever dream? The mystery continues.

Elsewhere on social media this week, Olympic champion Emma Finucane holds a koala, Demi Vollering learns some useful French, and we find out how aero-optimised a reindeer is.

1. Come to think of it, Virgil van Dijk would make a decent rouleur. I could see him towing the bunch into a cobbled section at Paris-Roubaix, or tearing through the sunflower fields at the Tour de France

2. Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish reunited. It makes you nostalgic for that Champs-Elysées finish in 2012, doesn't it?

3. Emma Finucane's been busy meeting the locals on her trip to Australia

4. MAAP's new partnership with Jayco AlUla promises to be one of the coolest collaborations on the WorldTour. The cap's a bit boy scout-y, though

5. Demi, you'd be surprised how far you can get with une grande bière, s'il vous plaît

6. You don't need to be able to speak French to know what Lilian Calmejane thinks of the new Jayco AlUla jersey. Perhaps he could give Demi Vollering some lessons?

6. 'Harrie, the taxi's here. No, I told you the bike won't fit. Just put it down, mate.'

7. Tom Dumoulin's back racing. I hope there's a bathroom in that shopping centre behind him

8. Ever wanted to see some of the best track cyclists in the world test their reaction times? Your prayers have been answered

9. I have a lot of questions about this Monopoly board, in particular: why is the trophy the top prize? I could've sworn that race was all about the jersey

10. Tuck your elbows in, Rudolph

11. It appears the man destined to unseat Tadej Pogačar is... Uncle Bryn. Who knew?

12. And finally, I'll leave you with something Christmassy to take you into next week. Here's how blind Paralympic champion Lizzi Jordan wraps and keeps track of the presents she's giving. It's brilliant

Sir Mark Cavendish is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement from the BBC after he was left off the broadcaster's shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year 2024.

The 39-year-old called time on a career spanning two decades last month, retiring as the all-time stage win record holder at the Tour de France, and with the accolade of being the greatest sprinter to have ever lived.

After winning a record 35th stage in July, Cavendish was among the bookies’ favourites to win this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year, an award he previously won in 2011. He was left off the six-athlete shortlist, announced last week, but his career will still be celebrated during the ceremony on Tuesday.

“It's such an amazing feeling – what an honour,” Cavendish told the BBC. “I’d say legacy is important. Most people like to be remembered for something. It’s an honour if you are remembered for something.

“I dreamed of being like my heroes when I was young. That gave me inspiration to train, to compete, to travel and if you can be that name that inspired, then I think that’s an important legacy to leave.

“Throughout my career I’ve seen a growth of cycling in this country especially, and that’s people racing, that’s people commuting, that’s people just enjoying riding a bike. It’s kids out with families, just out on a Sunday. Whether I’ve been a little part of that, I don’t know, but definitely seeing it, and seeing it throughout my career, that’s been the proudest thing of my whole career for sure.”

One of the original members of British Cycling’s 2004 academy, Cavendish began his road career in 2005, and made his Tour de France debut in 2007. He went on to win a road world title, an Olympic silver medal, and multiple stages at both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, but it was the Tour that would define his career.

“I love this sport, I’ve always loved this sport, especially the Tour de France,” he said after his final race, the Singapore Criterium, which he won in a bunch sprint last month. “The Tour de France isn’t just a bike race, it’s the biggest annual sporting event in the world. It’s what children dream of, it’s what adults dream of, it’s what you pretend to do when you’re out training.”

Cavendish’s 35 Tour stage wins and two green jerseys make up 22% of his overall victory tally, which concluded on 165.

It is currently unknown what the sprinter will do in his sporting retirement. “I’m really looking forward to what the rest of my career holds, just not on the bike,” he said. He has previously said that he hopes to work in management in sport.

Founded in 1996, Cavendish is only the second cyclist to receive the BBC's Lifetime Achievement award, after Sir Chris Hoy in 2014.

The Manxman will be presented the award during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony on Tuesday evening.

There’s a new question that’s making Sir Mark Cavendish wince.

For the last two years, his media interviews have been all about the Tour de France – more specifically, breaking the all-time stage win record. The most obvious question was always the one journalists were afraid to ask.

I remember in 2023, at his pre-race press conference in Bilbao, it wasn’t until the final moment that somebody plucked up the courage to ask Cavendish what it would mean to him to win a 35th stage. The question was followed by 30 seconds of uncomfortable, and slightly humorous, silence. Then came the response: “Honestly, I don’t know.”

It was a similar story before the race this year. This time, and it’s with pride that I say this, I was on the other end of a pensive Cavendish pause. In a crowded room on the outskirts of Florence, I waited 20 seconds for his thoughts on the legacy he’d like to leave in cycling. “I don’t really know,” were his words that broke the silence.

I sympathise with Cavendish. I can imagine it’s excruciating to be asked the same questions, every day, more times than you can count on both hands. Now, there’s a new one he’s sick of. It’s straightforward and to the point – only two words, in fact: “What’s next?”

The question took prominence well before he bowed out with victory at his final race at last weekend’s Singapore Criterium. For months now, people have been asking the Brit about his life beyond sprinting, the next steps in his career. We’re desperate to know. Currently, he’s yet to give a concrete answer.

This week on social media, Cavendish mocked the two-word question, posing it back and forth to Valtteri Bottas, himself also at a crossroads. (For the uninitiated, Bottas is an F1 driver and cycling lover – a bit like how Gareth Bale was a professional footballer, but preferred playing golf. He recently announced he’s leaving his current team.)

The exchange goes like this: “What’s next?” Bottas serves to Cavendish. “What’s next?” Cavendish returns. “What’s next?” counters Bottas. And so on. Sixteen times the question is asked in the video, which makes for dizzying viewing.

So, what is next for Cavendish? The closest we’ve gotten to knowing is in an interview he did with Men’s Health magazine last month. “I will always ride a bike, but the past few years I’ve known what I want to do after. I’ve set the wheels in motion for that. I want to stay in management in the sport, I still love it,” he said.

There’s a vague answer for you, Valtteri: management in sport. Oh, and he’s also planning to run the Paris Marathon next year.

Elsewhere on social media, Izzy Sharp swims with dolphins, Tadej Pogačar gets his hair cut, and two dogs take to a wind tunnel.

1. What's next?

2. Valtteri Bottas rode 180km on an indoor bike

3. Matthew Richardson's home track debut is going to be brew-tea-ful

4. Katie Archibald is gunning for a return to the track (ok, I'll ease up on the puns now)

5. As someone with a very similar hairstyle, I am in no position to start throwing stones

6. Life's a beach for Matteo Jorgenson during his off-season

7. Why ride a surfboard when you can ride dolphins?

8. What's the key to track success? Rice, apparently, and lots of it

9. It's not just humans who need carbs for performance

10. These two at Specialized HQ are really putting the 'lab' into labrador (I know they're Golden Retrievers, but allow it for the joke)

11. How many cyclists can say they've played the piano in Buckingham Palace? Well, Archie Atkinson can

12. And finally, here's a showreel of some of Cavendish's greatest moments, to help you start your weekend right

Former Hour Record holder Alex Dowsett has been confirmed as Astana Qazaqstan’s new performance engineer, in a raft of new appointments within the WorldTour team.

The 36-year-old Brit, who called time on a 13-year road career at the end of 2022, is taking on his first staff role in pro cycling, reportedly hired on the recommendation of the team’s retiring sprinter, Mark Cavendish.

Dowsett’s new role will include equipment testing, optimising rider positioning, and preparing for time trials, which he excelled in during his career, winning six national titles.

Astana Qazaqstan’s general manager, Alexandr Vinokurov, described the Brit's appointment as an "invaluable addition".

"[He] bring[s] expertise in biomechanics and aerodynamics. He understands speed and high-performance cycling," Vinokurov said.

According to a Substack report from journalist Daniel Benson, Dowsett was part of the wind tunnel team that helped optimise Cavendish’s riding ahead of this summer’s Tour de France, where the sprinter won a record-breaking 35th stage.

Dowsett told Benson: “After I helped him highlight some areas he could improve, namely with the aero bottles at the Tour, which gave him a 2% reduction in CDA on the Wilier, he recommended to the team that they take me on."

The Brit has spent the last two years competing in time trial events across the UK. He described his new performance engineer role as a “dream job”.

Dowsett is one of four names confirmed as joining Astana Qazaqstan’s performance team for 2025. Alongside him, Helmet Dollinger and Manuel Crespo will become coaches, while Morgan Saussine has been hired as a data analyst, having also worked on ‘Project 35’.

Former British road champion Pete Kennaugh will also join the team as a sports director, according to Cyclingnews. The 35-year-old, a friend of Cavendish’s and also hailing from the Isle of Man, is currently the lead sports director of British Continental outfit Trinity Racing.

Starting from next season, Astana Qazaqstan will receive sponsorship funds from Chinese carbon fiber company XDS. The deal will see the team receive a long-term investment of “at least five years”, with financing “at the level of leading WorldTour teams”, according to a press release shared this summer.

It is understood the team will ride on XDS’s own-brand X-Lab bikes. “They’re really good bikes,” Dowsett told Benson, “but my process was to make sure that the bikes were good enough to go racing and then try and make them perfect.”

Sir Mark Cavendish signed off his professional career on Sunday in the most fitting way possible: winning from a bunch sprint.

The 39-year-old, riding for the final time in the peloton, dashed to victory at the Singapore Criterium, beating Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), as he did on stage five of the Tour de France this summer.

The race was less about the result, however, and more about the occasion. After two decades in the sport, and a career that has counted 165 pro victories, Cavendish crossed the line for the final time, doing so with his hands in the air and a smile on his face.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better send off,” the Brit said afterwards, on the cusp of tears. “I’m so emotional, I’m so grateful, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”

Ahead of the event, which consisted of short laps around a circuit, Cavendish received a guard of honour from the other members of the peloton. Standing in two rows, they lifted their front wheels in the air and spun them, cheering as the Astana Qazaqstan rider rode through the middle.

Afterwards, they flocked to congratulate him again, before he made his way along the barriers to share a moment with his wife, Peta.

“I realised in the last 5 laps, it was the last 15km of my career, and I went past the flamme rouge for the last time in my career, and I felt that,” he said. “I was so on the limit, the heat here is not nice for me. I didn’t race since the Tour de France, so I’m missing that sharpness. When the guys are here with the leadout teams, it’s always going to be difficult. You see the amazing job my team, Astana Qazaqstan, did, controlling the race and leading me out.

“I have to say I was nervous about crashing or something if I fight. Not because of anything wrong, but because I really wanted to finish, at least, my last race. I was lucky I was able to get on the wheel and come past him [Philipsen] for the final.

“I really wanted that so bad,” he added. “I am so proud to win the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium as my last professional race.”

Earlier this summer, the Brit made history in the sport when he won a record 35th stage win at the Tour de France, surpassing Eddy Merckx’s tally. His career palmarès also counts 17 stage victories at the Giro d’Italia, a road world title, and an Olympic silver medal, won on the track in 2016.

“I love this sport, I’ve always loved this sport, especially the Tour de France,” he said. “The Tour de France isn’t just a bike race, it’s the biggest annual sporting event in the world. It’s what children dream of, it’s what adults dream of, it’s what you pretend to do when you’re out training.

“Cycling is such a form of freedom. It’s a way to meet people, it’s a way to be alone with your thoughts, it’s a way to be however you want to be, and it has so much potential as a sport, as a mode of transport, as a pastime – I truly believe this, I’ve always believed this, and I’ve always tried to do anything I can to help this move forward. That won’t stop, even if I’m not riding a bike anymore.

“In fact, I might be able to put more into that now. I’m really looking forward to what the rest of my career holds, just not on the bike, and I look forward to seeing everybody soon.”

It is still unknown what Cavendish plans to do following his racing career, however he has said he wants to work in management in sport. “I’ve set the wheels in motion for that,” he recently told Men’s Health.

Cavendish has revealed that he has agreed to run the Paris Marathon next year with his brother.

Sir Mark Cavendish has confirmed he will retire this Sunday at the Singapore Criterium.

The 39-year-old, who broke the all-time Tour de France stage win record this July, had previously left the door open to continuing in 2025, but will instead finish his career in Singapore.

Confirming his decision on Instagram, Cavendish wrote: “Sunday will be the final race of my professional cycling career. 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, I’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.”

Mystery has surrounded the Brit’s future since he finished the Tour de France in July, the last race in which he competed. Asked last month at the Grand Tour’s route presentation for 2025 if he might be present again next year, he said: “We’ll see.” It is now clear he has raced his final Tour.

“Thank you, everyone, for all the support, always,” he continued in his Instagram post.

One of the original members of British Cycling’s 2004 academy, Cavendish began his road career in 2005, and made his Tour de France debut in 2007. He went on to win 35 stages of the Tour in a career spanning two decades, as well as 17 stages of the Giro d’Italia, a road world title, and two national titles.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the recent Saitama Criterium in Japan, Cavendish said he “want[s] to stay in cycling forever”.

“It’s what I know, have success in. It’s what I have the network in, it’s what I love more than anything,” he said.

Although concrete plans are yet to be revealed, the 39-year-old has also said he wants to work in management in sport. “I’ve set the wheels in motion for that,” he told Men’s Health. “I brought a lot of people to this team [Astana Qazaqstan] over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful. I’ve been building up to the moment I’m not racing.”

Cavendish also revealed that he has agreed to run the Paris Marathon next year with his brother.

The Singapore Criterium, organised by the Tour de France, will begin at 4pm local time (8am UK time) on Sunday. It will finish around 6pm (10am UK time), when Cavendish will turn the final pedal strokes of his professional career.

If you saw a goat trapped in a well, would you jump in and save it? That was the conundrum Demi Vollering faced earlier this week when, on holiday in the Greek islands, she stumbled upon an animal in need.

Now, we all know the 27-year-old is a great bike racer, one of the best in the world. She’s also an adept florist, having worked as one for several years. But what are her animal rescue skills like? The answer, it turns out, are extraordinarily good.

In a video posted on her Instagram, complete with audio commentary and English captions, Vollering hops into the well and confidently seizes the goat. What follows is a remarkable feat of efficiency. Dressed head to toe in Nike sports gear, courtesy of her personal sponsorship deal, she lifts the animal above her head and places it on the sunbathed rocks.

The whole action, from the moment her feet touch the floor of the well, to the goat’s sweet liberation, lasts six seconds – yes, I timed it. “For a second, I thought he would die,” Vollering wrote. “Luckily he got up quickly and ran away to his friends.”

The ordeal, she added, was “very disgusting”. To save the goat, she had to plunge herself into a pit of flies, dust, and carcass remains of other animals, those not lucky enough to be discovered by a pro cyclist. And yet, despite it all, she waited and watched, to ensure her new friend was safe at last.

This is just one of the happenings in what has been a big week for Vollering. Prior to her animal rescue, the Dutchwoman was officially announced as an FDJ-Suez rider, in a musical reel of Hollywood-level production.

Sadly though, piano playing is not among her arsenal of talents. It is with no pride that we reveal that Vollering did not record the piano segments in her unveiling video, instead pretending to tickle the keys in the montage. We’ll forgive that, though. But had she not saved an animal’s life this week, perhaps we would have gone in harder there.

Elsewhere on social media, the cycling season has ended and given way to silly season; Wout van Aert – the same one returning from a knee injury – has been singing and dancing on national television dressed as a squirrel, and Mark Cavendish has swapped his bike for aikido robes in Japan. You've got to see it to believe it.

1. Long live Demi Vollering, goat saviour

2. The Dutchwoman is a person of many talents, but piano playing isn't one of them

3. For those in need of evidence, here is the proof that Vollering's no Elton John

4. Wout van Aert appeared on The Masked Singer in Belgium last weekend. Could you imagine a high-profile rider like Geraint Thomas doing the same in the UK? Yes, actually, you probably could

5. From saving them, to dressing up as them, to racing against them, it's a real animal appreciation theme here on World Vegan Day

6. Mathieu van der Poel is fed up of competing against mortals, so he's taking on supercars instead

7. You don't need 20:20 vision to read what it says on this bike's top tube

8. Rodri may have won the Ballon d'Or, but I'd like to see him navigate a tricky sprint finish into Torino

9. Remco Evenepoel everybody, double Olympic champion, and expert tea pourer

10. The spookiest thing about Ineos Grenadiers' Halloween edits is the absence of Tom Pidcock

11. Sweets are temporary, bike maintenance can last forever

12. Flick through to the second picture here to see Pfeiffer Georgi's mummy costume for Halloween (get well soon, Pfeiffer!)

13. Are there any aikido records Mark Cavendish can now go after?

14. And finally, here's Lotte Kopecky, enjoying what is clearly a calm and relaxing off-season in South Africa

"Finally, you broke the world record." These are the words Casper Cavendish greeted his dad, Mark Cavendish, with after the rider won stage five of the 2024 Tour de France, his 35th, beating Eddy Merckx's record in the process. "We knew, didn’t we," Mark Cavendish smiles as he makes it back to the team bus after all the razzmatazz a stage winner - a record-breaking one at that - has to go through.

These insights are two of many revealed in a new documentary released by his team, Astana Qazaqstan, on Tuesday, called Project 35. The film provides a look inside the team bus and car, as well as training camps, as Cavendish made history in July, and then battled to the end of the Tour, his last.

The story will be familiar now to most, of Cavendish given a lifeline by Astana to get one more stage win in 2023, of crashing out of that year's Tour, and then forging on for one more season to clinch the record.

However, Project 35 goes behind the scenes to present a new angle of the journey the 39-year-old went on, the triumph, and also the struggles that he faced, even early at this year's Tour.

Stage one of the Tour was difficult for Cavendish, with the brutal course not made for a sprinter, all done in the heat of an Italian summer.

"Things didn’t go to plan," Astana sports director Mark Renshaw says in the documentary. "He was dropped early in the climb and we predicted he would have held on for a bit longer. The focus of the day shifted to minimising damage, coming to the final safely inside the time delay."

Cavendish's teammate Michael Mørkøv is seen telling the team car: "He’s completely overcooked, from when we started the climb." Cavendish himself adds: "It’s tight, the skinsuit is so tight. Mate, I’m so blocked."

However, the Manxman successfully makes it through the day, and the next three. Renshaw telling him over the radio "bibbidi-bobbidi-boo", from Disney's Cinderella, apparently has a great impact at one point.

Then, stage five, the big day from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint Vulbas comes, and is nicely foreshadowed by Renshaw telling the team which side of the road to be on in the final.

The moment itself is huge for the whole team, with Renshaw's car pausing for a moment before realising what has actually happened. Davide Ballerini, one of his leadout men, was fined for stopping to watch the moment on the big screen: "They took our prize money away for that. It was really beautiful."

Mørkøv reveals in the documentary that he had doubts: "Around 1km to go I realised I couldn’t help you anymore, so I might as well let you go. Cross my fingers that you will make a result. And suddenly someone was screaming in my ear. But I was still waiting a bit because I could not really believe you’d won that sprint."

Post-podium, on the bus, Cavendish tells his team: "I couldn’t have hoped for, wished for, spending my time with better people than I have here. Thank you all for the belief, for every single minute you have put into this." He puts it much more succinctly at dinner: "I’m speechless, thank you so much. I love everyone."

The rest of the Tour is a bit of a grind, with Renshaw revealing that Cavendish had a bit of a "difficult period" getting back into racing again after his victory, which is understandable, after history was made. Then it's just the small matter of the Pyrenees and the Alps to get through, before a happy ending in Nice.

Sir Mark Cavendish has again not ruled out continuing racing in some form, but has revealed he aims to run a marathon next year, in a wide-ranging interview.

The Astana-Qazaqstan rider, who is believed to be set to retire at the end of the year, used a piece with Men's Health magazine to say that he hasn't "entirely committed" to what's next, only that he will not be riding another Tour de France.

The 39-year-old, the most successful male sprinter in history, the man with the most Tour de France stage wins, also said that he planned to stay in cycling post-racing, wanting to step into management.

"I’m still racing this year, I’m contracted until December. I’ve got races in the Far East in October," Cavendish said. "What is guaranteed is that I’m never doing the Tour de France again."

He is set to ride the Tour de France Saitama and Singapore Criteriums next month, thought to be his final races as a professional, but he stopped short of ruling out further races.

Last year, he announced his retirement at the Giro d'Italia but reversed his decision after crashing out of the Tour de France on the road to Limoges.

"I changed my mind so much over a three-month spell," he explained. "I crashed out and I had good and bad luck, but I thought that was it. People said to me, I can’t finish like that. But I’m the one person who knows how fucking hard it is. I chopped and changed my mind from day to day and even now, I haven’t entirely committed to what I’m doing, except for the fact that I cannot prepare for the Tour ever again. Cycling is hard enough, the Tour is another level. That is a dead cert."

"For me, though, it’s not about stopping, it’s about starting something new," he continued. "I will always ride a bike, but the past few years I’ve known what I want to do after. I’ve set the wheels in motion for that. I want to stay in management in the sport, I still love it. I brought a lot of people to this team [Astana Qazaqstan] over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful. I’ve been building up to the moment I’m not racing."

In terms of what will fill his time post-cycling, Cavendish revealed that he will be seen pounding the pavement in the spring.

"I will always ride my bike, but I want to run now," he said. "It’s pure – get your shoes on and off you go! I’ve already agreed to do the Paris Marathon with my brother. He started cycling before I did, and he was better than I was. Past four years, he’s started to get fit. He’s riding and started running. For the first time since we were kids, he’s lighter than me.

"I’m really looking forward to the time when I don’t have to wake up and do a specific programme on a computer. I can just ride with my friends, it doesn’t matter if I go fast or slow."

Cavendish also explained that he has changed as an athlete in his later years in the sport.

"I feel old now," he said. "I feel broken. It takes me a while to get going. These days, I’m like a diesel engine – which I never was before.

"When I’m on the bike, it takes me an hour before I start to do intervals and all of that. I’m not going to injure myself, but I’m never going to get the best out of myself unless I’m warm. Just to get fit in general now, it’s so fucking hard."

He was knighted this month in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

"When recognition comes as a result of another pursuit, it hits differently, because it’s not something I aimed for," he said. "It has been bestowed upon me. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, where you are from or how old you are – positive recognition is what we strive for. It’s impossible not to feel nice from it."

Mark Cavendish will bring the curtain down on his professional cycling career at the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium in November, the organiser has announced. 

As first reported by Cycling Weekly in August, the Manxman will race for one final time at the largely ceremonial events run by the Amaury Sports Organisation [ASO], the organiser of the Tour de France, in south east Asia. 

ASO organise two end of season criteriums in Singapore and Japan in which a host of high profile riders regularly appear. Cavendish is expected to take to the start line in Saitama before travelling to Singapore several days later. 

Chris Froome, Jasper Philipsen, Primož Roglič and Biniam Girmay will also all appear alongside Cavendish. Vincenzo Nibali was also named in the media release as part of a "TdF legends" team for the event. 

Cavendish recently overtook Eddy Merckx in the standings for the most stage wins ever achieved at the Tour de France. Going into this year’s race Cavendish and Merckx were tied on 34 wins apiece, but the Manxman famously took a record breaking 35th victory on stage seven in Saint Vulbas. 

The 39-year-old completed the race for Astana Qazaqstan and confirmed shortly afterwards that it had been his final outing at the French Grand Tour. 

He recently reiterated that he would not return to the Tour at a ceremony in which he received a knighthood from the UK’s Prince William at Windsor Castle. 

"I’ve already said I won’t do another Tour de France," he said. "That’s public knowledge."

He suggested at the ceremony that he still had further competitive events on his calendar this year, although he did not elaborate on what they were. 

"I’ve still got races this year," he added. "I’m still training for them, it will be really nice to race as a Knight Commander."

No other UCI races are thought to currently be on his schedule for Astana Qazaqstan and no more are likely to be added with the 2024 road season rapidly drawing to a close. 

Cavendish is also set to ride in the US next week with his former teammate and fellow knight Sir Bradley Wiggins, in order to raise money for hurricane relief in North Carolina.

Sir Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins are set to reunite on the bike at a charity event to raise money for those impacted by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, USA.

The pair, who last competed together at the Ghent Six Day in 2016, are two of the guests of honour at the 13th Gran Fondo Hincapie Greenville, the sportive founded by former professional cyclist George Hincapie. Cavendish and Wiggins will be joined by 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich too.

This year's Gran Fondo, held on Saturday 19 October, is a special event due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, a "worst-case scenario" weather event, which caused devastation in the USA, in North Carolina in particular. At least 213 people died across six states as a result of the storm, which caused flooding, strong winds and storm surges.

A portion of the revenue from the weekend will be donated to the Polk County Community Foundation, set up to help one particularly hard-hit part of North Carolina.

Because of the natural disaster, the route has been modified to a 19-mile course entirely within Greenville County, in order to stay in South Carolina, and not impact emergency services.

"We initially thought that we were going to cancel the event," Rich Hincapie, president of Hincapie Events, said in a press release. "But then I realised that we could use the Gran Fondo to draw attention to the massive devastation in our area and turn the entire thing into a huge fundraising effort.

"While we understand that many counties are in need, we want to focus on our neighbours in Polk County who have partnered with us and supported our Gran Fondo event for thirteen years. We want to rally the global cycling community and really make a difference in Polk County. Our goal is to raise one million dollars."

"Our friends in North Carolina have supported this event for over a decade," he continued. "Now, it is our turn to give back to them and help them rebuild their community.

"The proceeds collected will be donated directly to Polk County Community Foundation in North Carolina. We selected Polk County as this is the home of Saluda, Tryon, and Columbus, all of which have gladly hosted rest stops, partnered with our event, and cheered us on during our Gran Fondo Hincapie Greenville rides."

As well as the Gran Fondo, there will be a Celebrity Chef Dinner, attended by Cavendish, Wiggins, and Ullrich, and the After Party post-ride. At this, an artist will paint a picture of Cavendish live, which will then be auctioned off to help fundraising efforts.

Last month, Wiggins returned to the bike for the first time in "nearly three years" as part of a 50-mile meet and greet ride, ahead of which he said he was "a little bit nervous".

"I'm in a really good place now," he said pre-ride. "It's been nice to remember just how many friends I've got in this sport."

Cavendish, meanwhile, is set to retire at the end of the season, after riding the Tour de France Singapore Criterium. He was knighted last week.

Online registration is still open for Gran Fondo Hincapie Greenville until 18 October, and will be available on-site on the Friday and Saturday of the event.

Mark Cavendish became Sir Mark Cavendish after he was made a Knight Commander by the UK's Prince William in a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old received the honour after he achieved a record breaking 35th stage win at the Tour de France this summer. Cavendish admitted he was "nervous" ahead of the ceremony, and joked that one of his children thinks he will now be seen regularly wearing a suit of armour instead of his usual lycra get-up.

"I didn’t honestly know I’d be nervous," Cavendish said according to The Guardian. "But I’m so incredibly proud of representing the country… 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.

"It's wonderful. You know, 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."

"One of the boys thinks I’m going to be walking about in armour," he added after being knighted.

Receiving the honour of being made a Knight Commander is one of the highest awards and one of the most prestigious in Britain. The award is reserved for those who have made significant contributions to public service, sports, creative arts, politics, and other areas.

Speaking at the ceremony, Cavendish reiterated that he would not race another Tour de France, but said that he would be appearing at other events later this year.

"I’ve already said I won’t do another Tour de France," he said. "That’s public knowledge."

"I’ve still got races this year," he added. "I’m still training for them, it will be really nice to race as a Knight Commander."

As previously reported by Cycling Weekly, Cavendish’s final events of the 2024 season are the Tour de France Prudential Singapore and Saitama Criteriums which take place next month. The two events are largely ceremonial in Asia.

No other UCI races are currently on his schedule and his team, Astana Qazaqstan, have not yet announced if any more are likely to be added to his programme in what is set to be his final year in the peloton.

His Singapore and Saitama appearances were thought to be his final career outings, although Cavendish hinted at the recent Tour of Britain Men that there could be other appearances yet.

"I’m definitely not finished this year. I don’t know what happens after," he said.

A deal has been struck for Mark Cavendish to appear at the Tour de France Singapore Criterium, Cycling Weekly understands, with the event set to be his final career appearance after he achieved a record breaking 35th Tour stage win this summer. 

While the Singapore event is largely ceremonial, it will be Cavendish’s last race in the colours of Astana Qazaqstan as a professional rider. 

The organiser of the Tour de France, the Amaury Sport Organisation, hold two criteriums in Asia at the end of the cycling season. As well as the event in Singapore on 10 November, another criterium takes place annually in Saitama, Japan. 

So far an agreement has only been reached for Cavendish to appear in Singapore, but sources have told Cycling Weekly that it is highly likely that he will ride the Saitama event too, just over a week before.

Cavendish won stage five of this year’s Tour in Saint-Vulbas, which meant he broke the all-time stage win record at the race, previously shared with Eddy Merckx. The duo were tied on 34 victories apiece until Cavendish’s win for Astana Qazaqstan saw him jump one clear of the Belgian cycling legend. 

In the aftermath of his record-breaking achievement, there were whispers that Cavendish could retire immediately, or ride more professional races this year, including the Tour of Britain Men in September. 

Tour of Britain race director Rod Ellingworth previously told Cycling Weekly that he would be “totally open” to the possibility of Cavendish being part of the six day stage race later this year. But Astana Qazaqstan were not present on the list of teams for the race released by British Cycling Events on Wednesday.  

Cycling Weekly understands that the 39-year-old is unlikely to ride any more professional races. 

After completing his final Tour de France in July, Cavendish hinted that a snap retirement decision was likely to follow. He had already delayed retirement from the sport in order to ride on for one more year to target a 35th win at the Tour, a goal that he has now achieved.

As well as holding the record for the most Tour stage victories, Cavendish is also the sport’s most successful male sprinter of all time with 165 individual career wins to his name. 

"I’ve been very, very lucky to have the career I’ve had, to work with people I’ve had, to meet the people I have, and to have been able to live a dream, everyone’s dream," Cavendish told reporters gathered in Nice on the final day of the Tour in July.

"You see the successes, the photos and videos of wins, but it’s very rare that people see everything that goes on behind, everything that makes that. It [cycling] has taught me a lot about myself, how to be a father, and that’s the biggest thing I’ll take from the sport."

Seventeen years after his first one, Mark Cavendish has ridden and completed his last ever Tour de France, with 35 stage wins in his back pocket and the 2024 edition’s lanterne rouge – the last rider on the general classification.

The Briton was the second man to ride the 33.7km mountainous time trial from Monaco to Nice, and he told reporters after that it was “likely”  his last ever professional bike race, though he later sidestepped a similar question.

A year on from delaying retirement to secure win number 35, a victory obtained in the race’s first week that moved him one ahead of Eddy Merckx in the all-time list of stage wins, Cavendish described himself as “incredibly happy” with how his 15th Tour unfolded.

“I think there are 11 teams [10 - ed] left at the Tour de France without a win, and we got the win, the win we wanted which is important,” he said after finishing 1:28 slower than his Astana-Qazaqstan teammate Davide Ballerini in the time trial, dropping him to the bottom of the race’s GC.

“Like everything, you live a rollercoaster at the Tour de France, but we bond together as a group, and you enjoy the successes and hard times together. I am so lucky to have a group around me here that we could get through and achieve the success we wanted.”

Cavendish, as ever, has struggled through the race’s mountain stages, but he persisted so that he could have his victory lap in Nice which ended with a salute as he pressed pause, possibly forever, on his extraordinary cycling career.

"I think I got most of the emotions out the way yesterday so I could kind of enjoy today,” he reflected. “I couldn’t go easy, but I knew if I got to the top of the climb by a certain point, I’d be alright for the time limit, so I did that and could then just really enjoy it. I enjoyed counting down the kilometres, seeing the flamme rouge for the final time, and seeing my family as I crossed the line. It was very, very nice."

If this was to be the 39-year-old’s swansong, he departs as the most successful sprinter in the sport’s history with 165 wins. "I’ve been very, very lucky to have the career I’ve had, to work with people I’ve had, to meet the people I have, and to have been able to live a dream, everyone’s dream,” he said.

“You see the successes, the photos and videos of wins, but it’s very rare that people see everything that goes on behind, everything that makes that. It [cycling] has taught me a lot about myself, how to be a father, and that’s the biggest thing I’ll take from the sport.”

The 2024 Tour de France was only one hour old when Mark Cavendish was already in trouble. He had come here to create more history, to win a record 35th stage, but the heat, the humidity and the viscous climbs in the Italian Apennines were combining to make his day hell. There were fears, genuine and not overexaggerated, that the 39-year-old would miss the time cut on the very first day. That was not in the script.

As the hours slowly passed, and he and his Astana-Qazaqstan team slowly ticked off each of the seven climbs, the prognostic improved, and he eventually crossed the line almost 40 minutes behind the stage winner Romain Bardet, but crucially 10 minutes ahead of the time cut. 

Twenty days on, with a triple-header of 2,000+ metre peaks to navigate, and Cavendish –  his stage win 35 already achieved two weeks prior – was again suffering. He’s done a lot of that in this year’s Tour: he’s second-last on GC to his teammate Davide Ballerini, has finished in the last group on the road on five occasions, and on stage 19 he was the last man across the line, almost 45 minutes adrift of winner Tadej Pogačar. But, once again, the Manx Missile had staved off yet another time cut.

“It was pretty relentless today,” he told Cycling Weekly at the finish of stage 19 in Isola 2000. “It’s always just put your head down and go hard.”

Surviving the succession of mountains is “more important” than doing what he’s spent 16 years being the best in the world at doing: winning Tour de France stages. His 35th, he’s adamant, wouldn’t have come without the sacrifice of his teammates.

“You saw that first day in Florence, that was where we won our stage,” he said. “It was that day. Without that, without the boys doing that… That’s what brings a group together, that’s what a group is, more than a lead-out.”

Cavendish survived the first day in Italy, but his teammate Michele Gazzoli did not. Since then, he’s lost a further three colleagues, leaving his team with just four riders, each of them committed to ensuring that he makes it to Nice. 

“I am so proud of them,” he continued. “Them boys, they’re really incredible. Super, super just with me [the whole way]. I am so lucky to have them. I’m so tired. I’ve got to go rest otherwise I’m not doing them any justice.”

Current lanterne rouge Ballerini, part of each of Cavendish’s last five victories, admitted that the Briton “had some bad moments sometimes” during stage 19 and the preceding high mountain days, but that the pacing was always under control. “We always try to stay on the plan, stay on the [required] watts, and the important thing is to keep eating,” the Italian said.

Two stages remain, one more day in the Alps on Saturday, and then a mountainous time trial on Sunday starting in Monaco and finishing in Nice, but Cavendish can all but celebrate: barring disaster, he will finish his eighth Tour, of the 15 he’s started.

“I had it in my mind already that Cav could do it,” Ballerini added. “We saw him, he is going really good, and he keeps fighting with his head because he wants to arrive in Nice – and he will make it.”

Mark Cavendish was the last rider over the line on stage 19 of the Tour de France, arriving at the summit of Isola 2000 safely within the time cut. 

Ahead of the day, some worried if the race's Queen stage might prove too much for the 39-year-old sprinter. It counted over 4,500m of elevation, and climbed to over 2,800m altitude over its penultimate climb, the Cime de la Bonette. 

Instead, with five minutes and three seconds to spare, Cavendish finished alongside his Astana Qazaqstan teammates, Davide Ballerini and Cees Bol, 43 minutes and 46 seconds after the stage winner, Tadej Pogačar. 

The moment was marked unceremoniously on X by Astana Qazaqstan's official account. "All good today," the team wrote. Cavendish looks set to finish his farewell Tour. 

Here are four more stories of riders who cut it fine to stay in the Tour de France. 

Fabio Jakobsen - 15 seconds - 2022

There were tears when Fabio Jakobsen made it inside the time cut at the 2022 Tour de France. The sprinter collapsed into a heap along the barriers after the line on stage 17, having pulled himself up 18% gradients, breathless at the summit of the Peyragudes ski station. 

Not believing he'd make it, Jakobsen's Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl bosses had ordered his teammates to leave him on the final climb. One of them was Florian Sénéchal, who waited to cheer the Dutchman home, and welled up when speaking to the media. 

"After [Jakobsen's life-threatening crash in] Poland, I saw his face… and it was destroyed," Sénechal said. "Today, chapeau. He has my respect. He is my friend. I always wanted to give the maximum for him. 

"I just said to him, 'Push your limit for your family, for your teammates, and you will win on the Champs-Élysées [on Sunday] for sure."

Perhaps still suffering from his effort four days before, Jakobsen finished 13th on the final day, but finished his debut Tour. 

Victor Campenaerts and co - 5 seconds - 2021

Ben O'Connor's 2021 stage win in the rain at the Alpine resort of Tignes stands as one of the crowning moments of the Australian's career. But for those at the back of the race that day, it almost finished in heartbreak. 

O'Connor's slower stage-winning speed of 32.6km/h meant the race commissaires were less generous with the time cut on stage nine, announcing it at 37 minutes and 20 seconds, or 14% of the victor's time. This left many riders in a race to survive, with sprinters Arnaud Démare and Bryan Coquard among seven who arrived late. 

Still, a group of four riders managed to cut it particularly fine, crossing the line five seconds before the jury's axe came down. Victor Campenaerts, Greg Van Avermaert, Jelle Wallays and Grøndahl Amund Jansen all all scraped within the limit to fight another day.

Arnaud Démare - 45 seconds - 2024

Arriving alone as the last-placed rider on stage 15 of this year's race, Démare crawled over the line with 45 seconds to spare. 

The Frenchman was the first to drop behind the pack on the day, doing so just metres into the 198km stage. He later lost contact with the grupetto, finishing 35 seconds behind second-to-last Fernando Gaviria. 

Démare’s Arkéa-Samsic teammates and soigneurs waited in suspense at the finish. When the Frenchman finally arrived, stalked by the broom wagon, he tossed his bike against the metal railings, and fell onto his backside on the floor.

Démare lasted four more stages of the race, before bowing out 'OTL' – outside time limit – on stage 19. 

Andrew Talansky - 5 minutes - 2014

Although Andrew Talansky's time cut survival margin is not the narrowest in Tour history, his struggle on stage 11 in 2014 is one of the race's most famous. 

Bandaged up from an earlier crash, the American began stage 11 in pain, and slipped off the back of the bunch with 80km to go. He suffered on for another 20km, before he stopped, parked his bike on a guardrail, and sat down. There, his team director, Robbie Hunter, gave him a pep talk. 

"I'd never encourage a person to get off their bike," Hunter said afterwards. "I myself have been in a position where I've stopped Tours de France previously and a couple of hours later I regretted it. The only thing I said to Andrew is 'If you're going to stop, make sure it's the right decision.'"

With a TV motorbike for company, the Garmin-Sharp rider plugged away and turned up at the finish alone, 32 minutes behind the day's winner, Tony Gallopin. He then had to soft pedal to his team bus, which was parked the second furthest away. 

Talansky was a non-starter the following day. 

Missing the time cut

So far this year, six riders have missed the time cut, the first of which being former British champion Fred Wright on stage 11. Mark Cavendish has come close on a few occasions – safe by four and a half minutes on stage four, three minutes on stage 14, and less than two minutes on stage 15 – but has until now ridden to his calculations. 

In fact, only once in his 15 Tour participations has Cavendish been forced to abandon after running out of time. That came in the Alps on stage 11 in 2018, on a category-one finish at La Rosière. 

The Brit did, however, miss the time cut on another stage. On day 18 in 2011, the then HTC-High Road rider was part of an 88-man group that finished two minutes adrift of the limit on the Galibier. Keen not to lose the majority of the peloton, the race commissaires decided to reinstate them all. 

The commissaires were less forgiving two years later, when on stage four in 2013, Ted King dropped back in the team time trial, and was cut loose from the race by seven seconds. 

The margin was a lot larger in 2021 for Nic Dlamini, who finished 40 minutes after the time cut on stage nine to Tignes, an hour and 25 minutes down on the winner, O'Connor. "This is a race that I wanted to honour, and honour my dream. It was my first Tour de France and I knew it would be hard but I've honoured that dream," the South African said afterwards. 

The curtain has not quite fallen. The drama is still continuing, but it seems likely that Mark Cavendish has spoken his final lines in the greatest play of them all, the Tour de France.

It was not on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as has happened every other time the Astana-Qazaqstan rider has ridden the Tour, but on a nondescript arterial road outside Nîmes where the Manxman slunk off into the shadows of stage left. There are still five more stages remaining at this race, but it is unlikely that the 39-year-old will challenge again. This was it, outside one of the 1,564 McDonald's restaurants in France.  

Cavendish finished 17th, but this doesn't matter. He broke the record he came here for almost a fortnight ago now. The only thing left is for him to finish his final Tour, something he will be fighting to do.

It all felt a bit weird in the end, watching the best ever male sprinter in history doing his thing for a final time on the grandest stage. He lost his lead-out man, Cees Bol, and was nowhere near challenging the day's winner, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). In the end, he rolled over the line, head hung low. Of course, he still sped past me at 250m to go at incredible pace, but it was nothing compared to the winner. It is momentous, it should feel special, but it ended like that.

Think about how long Cavendish has been doing this for, sprinting at the Tour de France. I was 11 when he first raced, 12 when he first won a stage, and I'm turning 30 next year. His career has spanned seven British Prime Ministers, and everything else that has happened in between. It is strange to imagine a peloton without him.

"Maybe a little bit [weird without him]," Alexander Kristoff, himself 37, and a veteran of 11 Tours, told Cycling Weekly. "He's been around for so long, and he's still competitive. It's a bit weird, but I don't think he'll look back on his career and regret anything. He has been world champion, he's won 35 stages here, and I'll rank him as the best sprinter ever in history, so he should be proud of what he has achieved."

It is hard to think of another British cyclist who cuts through as much with the public at large, who isn't just confined to the niche world of cycling. The Cavendish era is almost over, and we have to accept that now. The Cav fans were still out in force in Nîmes, even if win number 36 didn't happen.

"It's historic, because I think it will be a long time until we see something like this ever again," Daniel, from South Wales, said. "It's good that he's ending on his terms this year, compared to last year. There's the positive and happiness in that, but it's sad to see someone so iconic leaving the sport. 

"I think he's relatable," he explained when asked why he's so popular. "You see a lot of very media trained personalities throughout sport now, and they're encouraged to not say anything which is deemed controversial. Cav is very natural, he's very relatable to the average person. And coming from a working class background on the Isle of Man, that's relatable for most of the people in the UK."

Of course, it's not over yet. There are five tough stages, which includes three mountain-top finishes. Maybe that's why Mark Renshaw, his former lead-out man and now DS at Astana, did not seem overexcited at the finish.

"I think there are a lot of emotions to go," he said. "I think the emotions that we're going to have over the next five days to Nice will be much more than today's finish, because there's a lot of pain and a lot of suffering to come."

The man himself seemed relaxed and calm, perhaps even happy and chilled out, after one of the final turns of his storied career. 

"We came here, we did what we set out to achieve in this Tour de France," he explained to the waiting media. "We did it early on so we're happy, it's been successful. Obviously everything on top of the 35th stage would just be a bonus for us.

"I'm very fortunate to have such incredible people following and living my career with me, for the last however many years.."

It does not sound like Cavendish will be abandoning this Tour, and will fight to the end, however hard that gets: "Since I started the Tour de France I've celebrated riding the Tour, showing the Tour the respect it deserves, and I've had success," he continued.

"This race goes on, it's the greatest sporting event in the world every year, and now I can just watch the sprints at home. See what all these young kids are doing."

That's it. Cavendish retreats, takes a final bow, and waits for the other main characters to finish the scene. It has been quite the show. 

Mark Cavendish was relegated from fifth to 68th place on stage 12 of the Tour de France, after being judged to have deviated from his sprint in the final.

As the race reached 400m to go, the Astana Qazaqstan rider veered over to the left-hand side of the road, before swinging back in. Seconds later, the Manxman was forced to veer again, to avoid a lead-out rider who had stopped pedalling. It is unknown which move cost him, but the race jury judged that Cavendish had fallen foul of UCI Article 2.12.007-5.1 - "deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider or irregular sprint".

While Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) won his third stage of the race, Cavendish was forced to reflect on a relegation in what is his final Tour de France.

The 39-year-old was also fined 500CHF, as well as losing -13 points in the points classification, and losing out on the points he would have gained for finished fifth.

Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was also judged to have deviated from his line and relegated, although his transgression was more blatant, almost moving Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) into the barriers on the right-hand side.

"We’re obviously pretty disappointed in that sprint because we think it was a solidly earned fifth place from Cavendish today," his sports director, Mark Renshaw, told ITV sport post-stage. "There were a couple of decisions that the commissaires panel has taken in that final, one of them affects us and Cavendish is really upset with this decision, as I am and as are the team, because we thought it was a hard earned fifth place. There’s many reasons for the way he sprinted.

"If we really analyse this move and break down those 50 metres, we can see that Dan McLay (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is leading out Démare. If you then stack it up against the white line you can see that he’s parallel about .8 of a metre to the right of the white line. He then finishes his lead out and he moves to the left, my estimate is about 1.5 metres he moves to the left and stops pedalling.”

"I'm sure Thierry Gouvenou (the route designer) said in a meeting the other day that if you’re a lead-out man and you stop pedalling, please keep pedalling. So I think this move by McLay where he stops pedalling probably deserves more of a sanction than what Mark Cavendish deserved. I as a leadout man know that if you stop pedalling in a sprint like this then there will be a reaction. 

"The reaction to that move by McLay stopping pedalling was Cav deviating to the left also with [Bryan] Coquard hard on the wheel. I think both riders, Cav and Coquard, had already committed to jumping to the left. So you've got a rider like McLay who stops pedalling at 74kmph, Cav in the same moment has already committed to jumping to the left and that's the reaction to that action."

"He’s really upset and really angry about the decision because he believes it was unfair and an action because of McLay coming back."

Rod Ellingworth says Mark Cavendish would be more than welcome at the Tour of Britain Men this September after his Tour de France record breaking triumph last week. 

Cavendish now holds the record for the most stage wins achieved at the Tour after his victory in Saint-Vulbas ahead of Jasper Philipsen. The Manxman now has 35 wins to his name, one more than Eddy Merckx. 

After moving on from his role at Ineos Grenadiers last year, Ellingworth is now back at British Cycling in the role of race director for both the Tour of Britain Men and Women. 

He previously worked with Cavendish during the Manxman's time at Team Sky as well as at Bahrain-McLaren. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Ellingworth said that he would be delighted to see Cavendish at the Tour of Britain Men this year, even if he is not part of the peloton. 

Ellingworth said: "Well I’m totally open to it, but I’m not sure it’ll happen, you’ll have to ask him. There will always be a place though for Mark whether it's on or off the bike with anything to do with British Cycling, I’m quite sure of that. So he will get an invite either way, let’s just say that."

"Of course," he added when asked whether the possibility of Cavendish’s presence was something that British Cycling would look to explore. "But with all that said, I totally respect what he’s done. Even if he came along and just spent the day with a few people, that would be fantastic also. The invite will definitely be there, on or off the bike." 

Cavendish delayed his retirement in order to return to the Tour de France this year after crashing out in Limoges in 2023. In the build up to this year’s race, the Manxman worked tirelessly with his coach Vasilis Anastopoulos in order to prepare for a final attempt at breaking the stage win record which he has now managed to do. 

When asked what he thought might be next for Cavendish when he eventually retires, Ellingworth said he thought that there was a high chance that he would stay in cycling in some capacity moving forward. 

"I’m sure he’s had some conversations with some people," he said. "But Mark’s not stupid at all, I’m sure he will keep active with something. But maybe it's time just to take a bit of a break, spend some time at home for a while and think about his next steps. He will have loads of offers and opportunities though I’m sure."

The Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men will get underway in Kelso, Scotland on 3 September. 

Mark Cavendish has said that he has one more opportunity to win a Tour de France stage, after he finished disappointed again on stage 10, coming 18th.

The Astana Qazaqstan rider is in his last Tour, and broke the record for stage wins at the French Grand Tour last week, with victory last week on stage five.

A week on, and Cavendish sounded pretty downbeat about his chances of adding to the record in a spectacular manner, although there are three sprint stages left, according to the race's organisers.

Asked how many more days he could win on, he said: "One, two, one. I don't know, we'll see. We've gotta get through the mountains."

After looking so impressive in Saint-Vulbas last week, when he broke the record he shared with Eddy Merckx of 34 stage wins, the Manxman has finished 19th, 88th, and 18th in the three sprint stage wins since.

On Tuesday, Cavendish appeared to lose his lead out train in the closing kilometres, with Michael Mørkøv and Cees Bol, his Astana teammates, essentially looking over their shoulders for the 39-year-old.

While Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) celebrated his seventh career stage win at the Tour, Cavendish was left ruing a missed opportunity, with just a few days left to make a difference. He hinted at an inquest to come. 

"We went how we wanted to go for 3km, but the Dutch lad from Orica [Dylan Groenewegen of Jayco AlUla] was on on his [Michael Mørkøv's] front wheel through the left corner, he lost the wheel, and he wasn't going to close it," he explained. "I had to close it, and I don't really know why the boys went, they weren't supposed to go until later. We'll have to speak about it and see what happened. It's just not like Mørkøv really. We haven't spoken about it, or analysed it."

"You have a plan, you try and go with the plan," he continued. "Things aren't going to be exactly as you want them to go. Someone has to win, a lot of people have to not win. That's bike racing, so we'll try again."

Stages 12, 13 and 16 are set to be sprint stages, but there is the small matter of the Pyrenees in between 13 and 16, and Thursday's stage follows Wednesday's hard day in the Massif Central. 

Project 35 is accomplished, but 36, which looked such a possibility a week ago, is running out of time.

Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) has been fined 200CHF (£174) for slipstreaming behind a car during stage six of the Tour de France. 

The sprinter, who broke the all-time stage win record in Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday, was shown riding behind a vehicle after he was dropped from the peloton with around 70km remaining on the stage to Dijon. 

The race jury decided to sanction Cavendish for "sheltering behind or taking advantage of the slipstream of a vehicle". Alongside the fine, he was docked 10 points in the points classification, 40 seconds in the general classification, and 15 points in the overall UCI ranking. 

Speaking after the stage, Cavendish explained he had had a mechanical problem.

"My chain wrapped and locked in my bottom bracket," he told the press by his team bus. "I started to panic when [there was] a TV camera. It's the second time this particular camera has done it. He goes in the middle of the road and stops the convoy coming, and that creates you out the back. 

"A television camera is there to capture images, not to influence the race," he continued. "It's the second time this particular motorbike has done that, and that's when you start to panic, because when an outside control is influencing the race, it's something you can't prepare for."

After the incident, Cavendish rode alongside the race officials' car, before tucking in behind it on his way back to the peloton. 

The Brit went on to place 19th in the final sprint, which also ended in race jury action. 

Having initially finished second, Alpecin-Deceuninck's Jasper Philipsen was relegated for deviation and fined 500CHF (£435). The team's sports director Christoph Roodhooft told the media afterwards that he received a phone call from the UCI informing him of the decision. "There was no further comment, just a simple message," he said. 

Despite his fine, Cavendish said he had a "really, really special" day in the bunch on Wednesday, after making history as the Tour's all-time stage win record holder.

"I was very humbled to be in that peloton today, with the amount of people who were genuinely happy," he said. "I had the old guys saying, 'You've given us hope that we can still do it. Then you've got Tom, little Tom Pidcock, who came up and said, 'I was nine when you won your first stage'."

The day was affected by crosswinds around its halfway point, which threatened to split apart the peloton. "It was about just staying focused, which for three and a half, four hours, is sometimes more difficult than suffering in the mountain days," Cavendish said. 

The sprinter's Astana-Qazaqstan teammate Alexey Lutsenko was also fined 200CHF for sheltering behind a vehicle during the stage, while the team's sports director Dmitriy Fofonov was fined 500CHF for his car's role in the offence. 

The day before, Davide Ballerini received a 200CHF fine for "inappropriate behaviour", after he stopped with 300m to go to watch his teammate win the stage on a big TV screen. 

Eddy Merckx broke the Tour de France stage win record on the 23 July 1972. The Belgian, who only made his debut at the French Grand Tour three years earlier, in 1969, amassed 26 stage wins out of just 104 opportunities. The Belgian won a quarter of days he started in his first four Tours to clinch the record from André Leducq, who had held the title of 'winningest' for the previous 40 years. 

Just under 52 years later, Mark Cavendish smashed through Merckx's yellow ceiling on stage five of the 2024 Tour de France. While the Belgian rode just seven Tours to make history, in just eight years, Cavendish has proved that longevity matters just as much. The Manxman is riding his 15th Tour, 16 years after he made his debut. He might not be able to match Merckx's strike rate, but he has outdone the Belgian on just a longer career. That, in itself, is impressive, let alone the winning. 

Cavendish is the Jimmy Anderson, the Ronnie O'Sullivan, of sprinting. To remain at the top of the sport for 16 years is madness. Not only has Erik Zabel, who he beat in the 2008 Tour de France, retired, but his son, Rick, has too. Marcel Kittel, the man who seemed like Cavendish's nemesis for a few years, only won 14 stages, and has been retired since 2019.

Given it has been over half a century since the last time the Tour record was broken, Cavendish might be safe at the top of the pile for now, but we can't rule out the possibility that the stage win record will last forever.

However, there is only one rider in the current peloton who can feasibly beat it: one Tadej Pogačar. 

The UAE Team Emirates rider, the man in the yellow jersey, has won 12 stage wins in five appearance so far; add a few more in over the next couple of weeks, and it could be on.

After the moment of history on Wednesday evening, Cavendish joked with Pogačar behind the podium, telling him "don't beat it", to which the man 14 years his junior replied "no I won't, no worries".

"When I was a kid, I was watching Mark with my friends and my brother," Pogačar said later, in his press conference. "He was just a hero to so many guys. He was winning in such a class with the team together. Now I'm already racing against him for six years. We became quite good friends, I would say. Winning the 35th stage, he's [in] historical company.

"Mark asked me behind the podium 'Please don't break this record' so I will let him have it," he added.

Will he, though? Pogačar won three stages at his first three Tours, two last year, and could feasibly win a few more in 2024. He just won six stages on his way to winning the Giro d'Italia, and is the closest thing cycling has to a modern Merckx.

It will come down to longevity more than anything else. It would take 12 Tours for Pogačar to break Cavendish's record - that's if the Manxman doesn't win any more - and most careers don't last that long at the top. Not in Tour de France stage-winning form, anyway. Merckx's record lasted 52 years, remember.

The Slovenian is different, though. He can win all sorts of different stages, and doesn't seem to ever be sated with winning. Even if he doesn't last as a general classification rider - something we can't really predict - one can imagine him still being there, sprinting to stage wins, punching to victory.

If Pogačar keeps riding well until his mid 30s, and keeps picking up a few Tour stage wins a year, then he is the only rider of the current generation who can deny Cavendish of an eternal place in history. 

Of course, there will be another great rider who comes eventually and sweeps the record away, things don't last forever. For now, Cavendish can sleep comfortably, knowing his place in history is secure, but don't bet against Pogačar. 

The Moment, the seeds of a journey that were first planted some 16 years ago, happened along a nondescript industrial road with forest on one side and an overgrown grass field on the other, a kilometre away from a village of 1,200 inhabitants that until it hosted the Tour de France for the first ever time, was just like the many thousands of other small routine French settlements: largely forgettable. 

But as the sun burned through the clouds that had given rain earlier in the afternoon, Saint-Vulbas was about to become synonymous with history. The Moment came at 17:38 CET on July 3, 2024, when Mark Cavendish surged through a crowded peloton, darting right and then left, and charged towards history, a 35th victory in the Tour de France, surpassing the record he had shared with Eddy Merckx for the past three years.

A few hundred metres back, where the recently-asphalted road gradually bent to the right, one of Cavendish’s principal helpers, Davide Ballerini, a man who delivered him to four Tour stage victories in 2021, slammed on his brakes and parked up at the side of the barriers. His work was done, and he was now like the millions of fans watching around the world. “I stopped riding at 300 metres to the finish and looked up at the TV screen,” the Italian told Cycling Weekly. 

“I didn’t get off my bike, but I braked and stood there by myself to see the finish. At first I could see he was blocked in, something happened but I don’t know what. Then in the final when he started he did a really good sprint.” 

Across the globe, fans drew a sharp intake of breath for Project 35 was about to be completed by the 39-year-old. “I was looking at the screen and when he won I was screaming with all the other people,” recalled Ballerini. “From December we were thinking about this moment, and now this moment has arrived. We are really happy. We had to keep fighting to be there because we knew that Cav was coming back – and now he is really back.”

Along the barrier after the finish line, Cavendish’s wife, Peta, waited anxiously with four of their children. She clutched the youngest over her right shoulder, and when her husband crossed the line first, let out a piercing roar. “Oh my God. He fucking did it,” she shouted, scanning to keep an eye on her children, who all jumped around with excitement. 

The whole family then hurdled the barriers, and made their way towards the bustle of photographers. “Daddy! Daddy!” Cavendish’s eldest daughter called. When he heard, he opened his arms to part the cameras, and, with a beaming smile, welcomed them into the chaos.

A melee of photographers, journalists, riders and well-wishers ensued and endured for 10 minutes, but several kilometres back down the parcours, probably in the department of Isère and not yet having crossed Le Rhône into Ain, was Cavendish’s DS and long-time leadout man, Mark Renshaw.

When The Moment came, he and his three other car companions initially had no idea. “We had no TV and we didn’t know for what felt like minutes,” the Australian said, “but it was maybe 20 seconds after when we found out. We didn’t get to see any of it, we just saw a couple of images now [15 minutes later] and it looks like they did an amazing job. We are really proud of the guys.”

Renshaw was brought into Astana-Qazaqstan last summer and has been essential in the construction of a dedicated leadout train around the Manx Missile that included the signings of Ballerini, Michael Mørkøv and coach Vasilis Anastopoulous. “I’m not a cocky guy but I was confident,” Renshaw smiled. “That was pure Cavendish. That final 100 metres was Cav from 2009, 2010, 2011, you saw the zip he had, attacking to the left – it was class.

“To come back from his crash last year… I never doubted him because he’s shocked me too many times before. There were no doubts on my behalf, Vasilis has spent hours and hours working on training plans and I don’t think the team had any doubt either.” He added: “Cav is a fine wine.”

At the end of 2020, Cavendish broke down in tears at Gent-Wevelgem, fearing that, without a contract for the following season, he had just ridden his last professional race. He signed a bare-bones contract with Deceuninck Quick-Step and won four stages and the green jersey at the 2021 Tour, moving him from 30 stage wins to 34. That year, his boss was Patrick Lefevere, and in Saint-Vulbas the veteran manager was just as ecstatic, if not more, as when the Manxman was winning his seven stages for Quick-Step.

“We were in the bus and everyone was yelling like it was one of our riders winning,” Lefevere said. “When we saw that Mark won everyone in the bus was like 'Argh’ and screaming. I’m proud and I’m happy for him because I think we were part of this history – when nobody wanted him anymore, I took him back and he took four victories in one year.”

A tranquil nothing-happens-here kind of outpost will never again be just-another-quiet-village that comes into the consciousness on a zoomed-in map. A plaque and a statue are surely to be erected at the site in Saint-Vulbas, where a cycling legend entered immortality, where The Moment finally, at long last, happened. 

Will the record stop at 35? “We still have a sprint tomorrow, don’t we?” Renshaw said of stage six. “I’ve seen a confident Cavendish and to bet against him not taking another one would be a big call.”

If you're wondering how Mark Cavendish will celebrate his record-breaking Tour de France stage win, his coach, Vasilis Anastopoulos, already knows the score. 

"A huge party tonight," he told the press gathered outside the Astana-Qazaqstan bus. "A Greek party, that's for sure. We're going to smash a lot of plates at the hotel tonight. Vino [Alexandre Vinokourov, team manager] is going to pay a lot tonight, I can guarantee that."

A Greek party might seem a bit off the wall for a Brit on a Kazakh team, but it shouldn't. 

This year, the sprinter has spent so much time in the country that Anastopoulos's children have given him an adoptive name. "His name is Markos Cavendishopolous," the coach said, triggering a ripple of laughter from the journalists. 

"At the beginning of April, he came to Greece with me. We spent three months in Greece in between [the Tour of] Turkey, [Tour de] Hungary and Tour de Suisse. We trained every day together, believed in the process – I can tell you that it was not an easy one. But we never stopped believing that this would come true.”

The belief, in the end, was not misplaced. Outside an uninspiring industrial estate on the outskirts of the village of Saint-Vulbas, Cavendish made history as the all-time stage win record holder of the Tour de France. He now counts thirty five victories, from his first in 2008, to his latest on Wednesday afternoon. 

The plan for breaking the record was hatched in December last year. 'Project 35', as it became known inside Astana-Qazaqstan, promised to deliver one of the sport's crowning moments. Anastopoulos was put in charge of leading it. 

"We started with our training camps already from December," the coach said. "I think in December, generally, he spent only four days at home."

That number has since only expanded to "maximum 15 days", Anastopoulos estimates, meaning Cavendish has spent more time with his coach than his own family this year. "I hope he doesn't hate me for that," the 48-year-old smiled. 

After a lengthy spring stint in Greece, Cavendish travelled to last month's Tour de Suisse, where he kept a low profile, building his climbing legs through the Alps. Afterwards, he returned once again to Anastopoulos's home country. 

"We spent the whole week doing sprint work, because of all the climbs we did before," the coach said. "The data I had told me that he was capable of doing it.

"You saw today why he's such a big champion. He's 39 years old. Most of the guys said he's not going to make it. He proved them wrong in 2021, and then he proved everyone wrong again in 2024. He's just phenomenal."

It was in 2021 that Anastopoulos and Cavendish first struck up a relationship and began working together at Quick-Step. That summer at the Tour, having gone five years winless at the race, the sprinter won four stages and equalled the all-time record, drawing level with Eddy Merckx. 

He returned to the race in 2022, his mind focused on one more victory. That chance, however, was cruelly pulled away from him halfway through day eight, when he crashed, broke his collarbone, and abandoned the race. 

"I told him, 'Mate, if you continue, we are together, we're going to make it'," Anastopoulos remembers. "On the night that he was at the hospital, after he had the surgery, we promised each other that we would just go for one more."

This year's route brought eight flat stages, so the pair knew they would have multiple cracks at the record. "Our biggest challenge was those three days in Italy," Anastopoulos said. "We saw the first day he was suffering because of the heat, but we were never in a panic. We controlled things. 

"Yesterday, I think we made a perfect plan on arriving just in the time limit, without spending too much [energy]. When the grupetto went away yesterday on the last climb, we told him to stay calm, follow his own watts – the watts we had already predicted before – in order to arrive today as fresh as possible."

So fresh, in fact, that Cavendish's turn of speed in Saint-Vulbas was staggering. Darting across the road, he held off last year's green jersey winner, Jasper Philipsen, a man 13 years his junior, considered to be the best sprinter in the world. 

What's the secret to Cavendish's longevity? "Hard work," replied Anastopoulos. "He's phenomenal. He can do the work like nobody else. That's what makes him such a big champion.

"He was under pressure. Everybody was talking about it; 35, 35, from the start of the season, when he announced that he would continue for one more season. You cannot imagine how much pressure this guy was under. But he's a great champion, and only champions can handle this pressure."

Now, Anastopoulos continued, the plan is for Cavendish to "win as much as possible" in his farewell Tour. "We're not going to stop," he said. There could be more Greek parties to come, and a plate shortage across rural France.  

Never write off Mark Cavendish. Whenever you do, he will simply prove you wrong time and time again, as he has always done throughout his stellar career. 

Cavendish postponed his retirement last autumn in order to return to the Tour de France, a race he has thrived in since 2008, in an attempt to break the all-time stage win record that he shared with Belgian cycling great, Eddy Merckx. The duo were tied on 34 victories apiece until Cavendish jumped one clear, taking a sensational 35th stage win in Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Manxman used his stage winner's press conference to pay tribute to his Astana Qazaqstan teammates and his family - who were present at the finish line - and to have one final pop at the sceptics who, in his view, never believed in his ability to still be competitive at cycling’s top level. 

"Of course people didn't believe I could win another stage of the Tour," Cavendish said. "That's because they don't know what it takes to win a stage of the Tour. If everybody knew what you had to do in a sprint it would make my job even harder. There will always be people who try to take away from what I’ve done here."

"I don't really know," he added when asked by one reporter how he would celebrate his monumental achievement. "I just want to see my boys, my teammates, the people that have been there, not just the riders but everyone that's supported me and worked on this Tour de France for one year, two years with me. 

"I don't really celebrate by going out and going crazy, I just want to be with everyone and realise what we’ve done together. 

"I'm very lucky to have an incredible team at Astana, an incredible group of friends and teammates and particularly an incredible family. I'm so thankful they came over last night and were here with me at the start and finish today. It always means so much more when they’re here at the race, and when they’re here I feel like I can win as well."

Cavendish’s performance in the final kilometre was the Briton at his absolute best. As the peloton thundered into the finishing straight, it became clear that he was the only Astana rider at the front end of the bunch meaning that he’d have to go it alone in order to stand a chance of victory. 

The 39-year-old hopped onto the wheel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprint train, taking advantage of their momentum, before launching a trademark sprint which left Jasper Philipsen floundering in his wake. 

"I just followed," Cavendish said in his typical analytical style as he debriefed the final kilometre with journalists. "I saw Alpecin come and I knew they had numbers so I thought I'll go with them. I knew Jasper Philipsen would be there, but you can't really predict which way he goes, you have to kind of wait for him to jump and then go with him, so that's what I did.

"Sometimes I know the final and I go through it in my head. I stay calm and I trust in my boys and know I'm in with the best shot."

Cavendish has spent months away from home at training camps, early-season races and further altitude camps in the Sierra Nevada before heading to the Tour this year. He explained that finally sealing the deal and taking win number 35 made all of his sacrifices worthwhile. 

"I think I've been home less than three weeks this year, [I've] just been away, training and racing. But it's not just me, my teammates have been away training and racing too. Everybody's put a lot into this. When you have five children, your wife is bringing them up making sure they live a normal life while dad's away, so it's pretty special.  For them to be able to come over yesterday and share this moment, I think any father would be able to testify how special that is."

With more than two weeks still to go of racing, it’s perfectly plausible that he could triumph again. Cavendish said he would still aim to be competitive and challenge for further victories as the Tour continues. 

"First and foremost I’ll try to enjoy it and secondly I'll try to be successful again because that's fundamentally our job. I love this race, I always have loved this race. I love this race when I ride it, I love this race when I watch it and I'll always give it 100%. 

"I’ll continue to do that and I’ll continue to try in bunch sprints. It’s not going to be easy for a sprinter to survive the whole way but I’ll give it everything."

Mark Cavendish was one of the most successful professional cyclists of the modern era.

He holds the record for the most Tour de France stage wins in history, a title he took from Eddy Merckx on stage five of the 2024 race, clocking up his 35th victory in Saint Vulba.

The Manx Missile had intended to retire at the end of 2023, but having crashed out of the race that year, returned for one more season with Astana Qazaqstan, in pursuit of the record. He smashed that, and has now stepped off the bike.

Here are 21 things you may not have known about Cav...

1. Before picking up a road bike, Cavendish rode BMX events at home on the Isle of Man.

2. He joined his first cycling club at the age of nine in Douglas.

3. Cavendish developed a reputation from a young age as being fiercely competitive, and he didn't like losing. His early coach, Dot Tilbury, told the BBC in 2012: "He didn't like losing. He started to win and often he would lap the other riders in the field".

4. After leaving school, he worked in a bank for two years to attempt to fund the beginning of a cycling career.

5. While on the GB academy, Cavendish along with the rest of the riders had to live on £58 a week.

6. The Manx-born rider's first team was called Team Sparkasse, a feeder team for the German T-Mobile outfit.

7. His first Grand Tour stage wins came in 2008, with four at the Tour de France and two in the Giro d'Italia.

8. In 2009, Cavendish won Milan-San Remo, his first and only Monument victory to date.

9. The Manxman became road World Champion in Copenhagen in 2011, beating Australia's Matthew Goss and André Greipel of Germany. He almost won again in 2016, but was denied by Peter Sagan.

10. Later on that year, Cavendish was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2011, the third cyclist to do so, after Chris Hoy and Tom Simpson.

11. He has published three books: Boy Racer, At Speed, and Tour de Force, the final one detailing his return to winning ways at the Tour de France in 2021

12. Between 2009 and 2012, Cavendish won each of the final Tour de France stages in Paris on the Champs-Élysées, the unofficial sprinters world championships.

13. If you already knew the previous fact, did you know that by winning in Paris in 2012, Cavendish became the first and only rider to win on the Champs-Élysées wearing the hallowed rainbow jersey? You do now!

14. He has depression. Cavendish was diagnosed in 2018. In an interview last year, he said: "Depression you just associate with being sad – and it’s not sad. The amount of times I’ve tried to paint a picture. But you can’t, there’s no picture to paint. You either don’t have any feelings at all or how you act or respond is completely irrational."

15. On two separate occasions, the Manxman has been diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus, otherwise known as glandular fever or mono, which kept him out of competition.

16. In Autumn 2013, Cavendish married model Peta Todd in London; he is stepfather to her son from a previous relationship, and they have had four further children together.

17. In November 2021, the couple were robbed at knifepoint in the middle of the night at home in Essex. Three men were jailed for their part in the armed robbery.

18. As a result of the incident, the Cavendish family have bought guard dogs to help secure his home

19. The Manxman holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from the University of Chester for his contributions to cycling.

20. In 2024, aged 38, Cavendish became the most successful male sprinter in the history of cycling, with 164 wins.

21. In June 2024, he was awarded a knighthood. At the Tour, he was the first ever knight to participate in the race.

You will not have missed the fact that Sir Mark Cavendish made history at the Tour de France on Wednesday afternoon, as he won stage five and broke the stage victories record in the process.

The Astana Qazaqstan rider has been through a lot to get to this point - including 15 Tours de France - and there has been an outpouring of love for the 39-year-old and his incredible achievement.

Plaudits have come from all corners, including former rivals, current rivals, and those at the very top of the sport. I've even had an email from a betting company, which has slashed the odds for the Manx Missile to win Sports Personality of the Year for a second time. Stranger things have happened. 

To just think that his first stage win came on stage five of the 2008 Tour, where he beat riders like Óscar Freire and Erik Zabel, and you get a sense of how incredible the achievement is.

"When I began coaching Mark as a young boy, I always knew he would go on to achieve amazing things," his first coach, Dot Tilbury, said. "He is an inspiration for everyone on the Isle of Man – and after this victory there can be no doubt that he the greatest sprinter of all time."

British Cycling's performance director, Stephen Park, led the congratulations on behalf of the governing body in the UK.

"On behalf of British Cycling I would like to congratulate Sir Mark on a truly outstanding achievement," he said. "It goes without saying that Mark is one of the greatest British riders of all time, and to cap off his final season of racing with another victory at the sport’s biggest race is a fitting final chapter in a glittering career. 

 "We have been proud to support Mark from his early days on the Great Britain Cycling Team academy to his final Tour de France, and this is an incredibly special day for the coaches, support staff, fellow riders and fans who have all played a role in his journey. 

 "Mark’s long and storied career, his passion for the sport and his tenacious pursuit for excellence make him a real inspiration for the next generation of bike riders looking to follow in his footsteps. He is one of our country’s truly great sportsmen and sporting personalities, and it has been a privilege to have watched him reign supreme for all these years."

Here is a collection of some of the best posts on social media we have seen 

1. Taylor Phinney was just as impressed by this Arkéa-B&B Hotels rider as Cavendish's big achievement. It is some bunny hop.

2. That said, the former pro cyclist was very, very happy to see #35 happen. It's a big deal.

3. Marcel Kittel, once Cavendish's big foe, retired a few years ago and is younger than Cavendish, just to show how impressive the feat is. He is very magnanimous in his congratulations.

4. No photo finish needed, really

5. I think the crown and sash are ASO-approved items, although they might have just been photoshopped on

6. Another former rival - a big one at that - Peter Sagan, has his say. Not sure he understands how monarchies work

7. Even other teams - although this one is his former employers - are getting in on the congratulations. It's impressive

8. Matt Stephens is very happy, which is nice

9. Cameron Mason, with his eagle eyes, spotted that Cavendish's chain came off during the celebration. It didn't matter at that stage, obviously

10. Luke Rowe can't even type words, which is how I felt really

11. Pascal Ackermann is part of history, as he was the man who essentially led Cavendish out to his sprint. At least he can see the funny side - the cheque will be in the post

12. Apologies for the swearing, but it's quite good advice here. Why bother killing yourself in the Pyrenees now?

13. We've had Biniam Girmay, Richard Carapaz, and now Cavendish making history. The monumental Tour de France!

14. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck probably has every right to feel peeved, but is a good loser here. As long as Cavendish doesn't keep winning, I'm sure

15. And finally, just take a look at this top-20 from Cavendish first won a Tour de France stage. It's pretty ridiculous

Britain's Mark Cavendish had been seeking a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory for years – and in Saint Vulbas on stage five of the 2024 Tour, he finally made the dream a reality.

It was classic Cavendish – after being deftly ushered through the last 10 kilometres by his Astana Qazaqstan team, the final 500 metres saw the Manx rider jinking from wheel to wheel before springing forth to take the lead with a power and assuredness that utterly defied his 39 years.

He had been due to retire at the end of 2023, but after crashing out of last year's Tour de France on stage eight, his Astana team gave him one last bite of the cherry this year. They will be glad they did so.

The Manxman started winning at the Tour in 2008 at Chateauroux, and 13 years later, having made a sensational comeback, he rode in to the history books. He has long been the race's greatest ever sprinter, now he is one of the events greatest riders.

For the first six years of his Tour presence he was the dominant sprinter at the race, but after a short resurgence in 2016 when he won three stages riding for Dimension Data, had endured a fallow period due to illness. He missed the 2019 and 2020 editions and during this time admitted himself he may never return to the race that has captivated him since he was a child.

Then this year he was selected for the race with less than a week to go after Sam Bennett succumbed to a knee injury and then embarked on an incredible comeback that no one expected. Not even him.

We decided to plot all of his 34 wins on a map. Click on each one and for a brief description and link to our original report.

Mark Cavendish's Tour de France stages wins

1. Chateauroux. July 7, 2008 Team Columbia (23)
2. Toulouse, July 12, 2008 Team Columbia (23)
3. Narbonne, July 17, 2008 Team Columbia (23)
4. Nimes, July 18, 2008 Team Columbia (23)
5. Brignoles, July 5, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
6. La Grand-Motte, July 6, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
7. Issoudun, July 14, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
8. Saint-Fargeau, July 15, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
9. Aubenas, July 24, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
10. Paris, Champs-Élysées, July 26, 2009 Team Columbia - HTC (24)
11. Montargis, July 8, 2010 Team HTC - Columbia (25)
12. Gueugnon, July 9, 2010 Team HTC - Columbia (25)
13. Bourg-Lés-Valence, July 15, 2010 Team HTC - Columbia (25)
14. Bordeaux, July 23, 2010 Team HTC - Columbia (25)
15. Paris, Champs-Élysées, July 25, 2010 Team HTC - Columbia (25)
16. Cap Fréhel, July 6, 2011 HTC - Highroad (26)
17. Châteauroux, July 8, 2011 HTC - Highroad (26)
18. Lavaur, July 13, 2011 HTC - Highroad (26)
19. Montpellier, July 17, 2011 HTC - Highroad (26)
20. Paris, Champs-Élysées, July 24, 2011 HTC - Highroad (26)
21. Tournai (Bel), July 2, 2012 Team Sky (27)
22. Brive-la-Gaillarde, July 20, 2012 Team Sky (27)
23. Paris, Champs-Élysées, July 22, 2012 Team Sky (27)
24. Marseille, July 3, 2013 OmegaPharma - Quickstep (28)
25. Saint-Amand-Montrond, July 12, 2013 OmegaPharma - Quickstep (28)
26. Fougéres, July 10, 2015 Etixx - Quick Step (30)
27. Utah Beach, July 2, 2016 Dimension Data (31)
28. Angers, July 4, 2016 Dimension Data (31)
29. Montuban, July 7, 2016 Dimension Data (31)
30. Villard-les-Dombes Parc Oiseaux, July 16, 2016 Dimension Data (31)
31. Fougéres, June 29, 2021 Deceuninck Quick-Step (36)
32. Châteauroux, July 1, 2021 Deceuninck Quick-Step (36)
33. Valence, July 6, 2021 Deceuninck Quick-Step (36)
34. Carcassonne, July 9, 2021 Deceuninck Quick-Step (36)
35. Saint Vulbas, July 3, 2024 Astana Qazaqstan (39)
Cavendish's age at the time of the victory in brackets.

Tour de France riders with the most stage wins

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) 35
2. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 34
3. Bernhard Hinault (Fra) 28
=4. André Leducq (Fra) 25
=4. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 25
6. André Darrigade (Fra) 22
7. Nicolas Frantz (Lux) 20
8. François Faber (Lux) 19
9. Jean Alavoine (Fra) 17
=10. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 16
=10. René Le Greves (Fra) 16
=10. Charles Pelissier (Fra) 16
*Rider still competing

Sir Mark Cavendish took the Tour de France stage win record with victory on stage five in Saint Vulbas, his 35th stage triumph at the French Grand Tour.

The Astana Qazaqstan sprinter was the first to go clear on the final bend and crossed the line clearly in front of everyone else in the peloton to make history.

He overtook Eddy Merckx's long-standing record of 34 stage wins in the process, after surfing the wheels, jumping from Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to go for the win.

Second was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) in third.

The yellow jersey remains on the shoulders of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

The man from the Isle of Man, still racing at 39, was knighted last month, but now has the accolade he wanted the most.

"We just wanted to get the run in to do it, I guess," Cavendish said post-stage. "Woah. I’m in a little bit of disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we had a good Tour de France. We gambled on coming here and winning at least one stage. That’s a big gamble for my boss, Alexandre Vinokourov. "That shows an ex bike rider, one who knows what the Tour de France is. You know you have to go all in, and we’ve done it. We worked exactly what we wanted to do, how we built the team, the equipment. Every detail has gone specifically to today.

"You see what it means. It doesn’t mean we're going to be top of the UCI rankings, but the Tour de France is bigger than cycling."

"It normally takes me days to get into it," Cavendish said, reflecting on his struggles on stage one. "I know it works. If everyone knew how it was, everyone would be a bike rider, my job would be a lot harder. I've done 15 Tours now. I don’t like having bad days, I don’t like to suffer, but I know it’s just in the head, and if you get through it you can have an opportunity. Things have to go your way. 

"We didn’t nail it as a team, like we wanted to do, but the boys got me there in the best position. I shot onto whatever train was going, and was able to win. It’s beneficial to be able to use your head a bit."

How it happened

A surprising early attack came from Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), just 7km into the day, but they were soon caught. 

The attacking kept going for the first 25km of the day, with Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) attempting to go clear with 153km to go. He was chased by the Swiss pair of Stefan Küng (also Groupama-FDJ) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), but these two could not get clear. 

Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) could get up the road, however, joining Russo with 143km to go. Their gap got to almost five minutes over the day. 

Russo was the first to the top of the Côte du Cheval Blanc to take maximum points from that.

Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck were very much in control of the peloton for most of the day, aiming to keep the breakaway in check.

With 59km to go, a sizable crash - one of the first major ones of the whole race - saw Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) held up or come down, among others. It was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), the yellow jersey, who was at the front of it, almost colliding with a traffic island. The chain reaction brought down those behind him.

The first across the line at the intermediate sprint, with 54km to go, was Russo. However, the action was more happening behind in the peloton, where many of the top sprinters were aiming for bonus points in the green jersey competition.

It was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who took the 11 points, beating Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the dominant sprinter last year, looked a little out of sorts here.

The heavens opened late on in the day, once the race very much on, making the day that bit harder. 

The break were caught with about 36km to go, which allowed Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) to extend his lead in the mountains classification by one point.

From the top of the Côte de Lhuis, it became a fast race towards the finish, with the GC teams very much to the fore to protect their designated riders.

With 28km to go, the Uno-X Mobility sprinter Alexander Kristoff crashed on the descent from the Lhuis, but remounted. Astana Qazaqstan were pushing on the pace at the front at the same time. 

The speed with which the final 45 minutes were tackled was incredible, as the sprint teams knew this was a huge opportunity. The last 5km saw two big corners, so positioning was hugely important.

Into the last curve, Uno-X Mobility surged forward for Kristoff. Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan), who had lost his lead-out train in the chaos, surfed the wheels, but eventually popped up and had a clear run at the line to take an historic victory.

The moment was marred by a crash for Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Results

Tour de France 2024, stage five: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Saint Vulbas (177.4km)

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Astana Qazaqstan, in 4:08:46
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
8. Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
9. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
10. Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time

General classification after stage five

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 23:15:24
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +45sec
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +50sec
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, +1:10
5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:14
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:16
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at s.t.
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:21

In the first sprint opportunity at this year's Tour de France, Mark Cavendish went from being on the cusp of history, to being thankful to finish the stage. 

The Brit placed 113th on the flat run-in to Turin – won by Intermarché-Wanty's Biniam Girmay – rolling over the line at a canter after he was caught behind a crash inside 4km to go. 

At his Astana-Qazaqstan team bus afterwards, throngs of fans gathered to collect Cavendish's autograph. "If you push it closer, I can't sign it," he politely warned one, clutching a Sharpie in his right hand. He then turned to the media to recount his view of the finish. 

"I wasn't the only one just lucky to stay upright," Cavendish said, a sense of relief in his voice. "I had too little to see what was going on, so I hear it, and hear people closer, in front of me going [to crash], and you're fully on [the brakes].

"It's not about thinking you're going to hit someone, it's waiting for someone to hit you from behind. So I'm just skidding and waiting to get hit from behind. Luckily we didn't, and we kind of got through." 

'Getting through' has been the theme of Cavendish's Tour so far. On the opening day in Florence, he was pictured vomiting in the heat, and ended the stage 39 minutes down. Another hilly day followed, with gradients reaching up to 20% on the San Luca climb in Bologna. 

How was Cavendish feeling going into the first sprint day? "I didn't feel bad," he said. "I don't think anybody's legs are feeling good, to be fair. [Tadej] Pogačar, maybe his legs feel good. Everybody else is a little bit tired.

"It was a long day," he continued. "It wasn't easy enough that you could recover, it wasn't hard enough [either]. It was just a little bit uncomfortable all day, but it's ok. I've kept something in the legs, and I'm ready to hit the Alps tomorrow."

"I don't think anyone's seriously hurt [from the crash], which is very, very good news. We didn't sprint, but we're safe. That's the main thing." 

Cavendish's fortunes appeared against him earlier in the stage when, inside 90km to go, he stopped at the side of the road to change both of his bike's wheels. "Double puncture," Astana-Qazaqstan DS Stefano Zanini told Cycling Weekly at the finish. Cavendish himself said he has "always been fidgety". 

Ahead of this year's Tour, the Brit identified "five or six chances" for the sprinters, as he went in search of a record-breaking 35th stage win. 

An Isle of Man flag lay draped over the hoardings with 100m to go in Turin, property of two roadside fans, anxious to witness their fellow islander make history. Would it be first time lucky? Not quite, but optimism rung out in the sprinter's final words. "We keep going," Cavendish said. Stages five and six are likely to be his next chances. 

"How long does he have?" asks one fan to another, waiting outside the Astana-Qazaqstan team bus on the promenade in Rimini. "25 minutes have gone," the second replies. "I think he's going to make it."

Mark Cavendish was not expected to be the story on stage one of the Tour de France. But after dropping from the peloton early, appearing to vomit, and lagging deeper behind on time, a worry began to sprout. 

Around a hundred people gathered by the Brit’s sky blue bus after the stage. They watched the minutes tick by on their phones, the anxiety growing as each one went by. Finally, over 39 minutes after the winner, Romain Bardet, crossed the line, a roar came from the masses down by the finish line. 

Filing through them, still on his teammate Michael Mørkøv's wheel, Cavendish came trundling towards safety. He had endured almost six hours in the saddle, and staved off the time cut with 10 minutes to spare.   

The Brit said nothing when he put his feet on the floor. Wearing a dazed expression – his mouth ajar and bottom lip hanging low – Cavendish calmly rested his bike against the bus, and puffed his cheeks out. He then pushed the curtain in the doorway aside, and disappeared up the stairs. 

The crowd noise fell to a curious hum. Five minutes later, the curtain swung back again, and summoned by cries of his name, the sprinter stepped back outside. His first words revealed the reason for his suffering. 

"It was the heat," Cavendish told the press. "Look, we know what we're doing. It's not easy. Like I always say, if you've got my body type now, don't start cycling, because those days have gone. But we know what we're doing. It doesn't mean it's easy. We're not riding round talking."

Throughout the stage – a dizzying 200km hack through the Tuscan hills – Cavendish was kept company at the back of the race by teammates Mørkøv, Cees Bol and Bram Welten. The trio tried their best to keep their sprinter cool in the 35C heat, pouring water into his helmet, and stuffing ice cubes down the back of his jersey. 

How had Cavendish found the day? "That was so hard," he said. "That was so hard, but we had a plan and we stuck to it. Ok, I would have liked to have stayed one more climb with the peloton, but I was seeing stars, really. It was so hot. We're happy we made it through. We're ok."

While his fans feared the worst, Cavendish counted back the minutes he would be granted to finish the stage. Had he missed the time limit, he might have been turfed off his farewell Tour. 

"You can work out what the front guys are going to do, then you work out what you can do, what you need to do to get in the time limit," he explained. "[It] isn't really to try and put people out of the race. It’s there when people are sick and injured, to stop them carrying on. Obviously it makes a nice story when you’re close to it. Like I said, we kind of had it all under control." 

The sighs of relief beside the team bus, however, suggested his fans weren't always so convinced. One day down, "onto stage two," Cavendish said. For now, the dream of a record-breaking 35th stage win lives on. 

Mark Cavendish believes there are up to six opportunities for him to take a record-breaking 35th stage win in his final Tour de France. 

The 39-year-old, who currently shares the record with Eddy Merckx, will start his 15th Tour on Saturday, with a clear team goal to claim a victory.

On the eve of the race’s Grand Départ in Florence, a relaxed Cavendish addressed the media from his hotel, sat beside his Astana-Qazaqstan team boss, Alexander Vinokourov, who helped convince him to return to the Tour after crashing out on stage eight last year. 

This year, the same ambition remains: make history. 

“Look, I don't have anything to lose,” Cavendish smiled. “It’s not like playing roulette, where if I don’t win here, I lose 34 Tour stages, do you know what I mean? 

“I know it makes a nice story to kind of say that, but it’s as simple as that. I’ve won 34 stages of the Tour de France. I’ve won the most number of stages along with the great Eddy Merckx. I’m just trying for more. Whether that’s one more, two more, 10 more, that doesn’t matter. We have a job to do, which is to try and win and we’ll just take every day like that and approach it like any other bike race.”

Asked how optimistic he is of winning a stage, the former world champion said: “We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think it was possible. Of course, I don’t think any other team with a sprinter would be here if they didn’t think it was possible to win, and fundamentally that’s our job as cyclists, to try and win.”

The official route counts eight 'flat' stages, the first coming in Turin on day three. "I think, realistically, it's five or six chances," said Cavendish. "It's hard the other times." 

Earlier this year, Astana-Qazaqstan recruited legendary lead-out man Michael Mørkøv, and brought in Mark Renshaw, another of Cavendish’s former pilots, as a sports director to head up 'Project 35'. 

Together with Mørkøv, Cavendish explained he has been plotting how to win a stage this year. “It’s not very romantic. It’s actually quite clinical,” he said. “We have a process we like to do, Mørkøv and myself. We talked about it this morning, the most ideal scenario for a sprint. Obviously I can’t really give that away.” 

Stage win record aside, perhaps the most poignant moment of the press conference came when Cavendish was asked about the legacy he hopes to leave behind in his final Tour. The Brit remained mute for 20 seconds while he considered his answer, looking down at the microphones in front of him, and around the small room, where his wife, Peta, stood at the back. 

“I don’t really know,” he then said, breaking the silence with a smile. “I honestly don’t really know. I said before I started my career that if I could ever be in a book of names of riders that meant something, big riders in the history of cycling, if my name was in that book, I’d be happy. 

“As I’ve grown up, and obviously had children, and seen how they’re inspired by, not just their cycling heroes, but any sporting heroes and life heroes, it kind of changes your perspective on what a sports person is.

“I understand now that I’m fortunate to be in the position of what I do, and inspiring not just a generation, but a few generations, adults, kids, it doesn’t matter. If they can grow up and see me from afar or know me, know I’ve left an impact on them that helps motivate them, then that’s the most important.”

The Tour de France begins on Saturday in Florence, Italy, with a hilly stage across the Tuscan countryside. 

The Tour de France’s leading sprinter Jasper Philipsen has backed Mark Cavendish to win a record-setting 35th stage during this year’s race, saying that the whole sport is willing on the Briton.

Philipsen won the race’s green jersey and four stages in 2023, and is widely expected to add to his tally of six career stage wins in the forthcoming weeks.

Up to eight stages of the 2024 race appear to be reserved for the sprinters, and Cavendish, 39, only needs one win to become the outright stage race record holder; he currently holds the title with Eddy Merckx on 34.

Speaking two days before the race gets underway in the Italian city of Florence, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Philipsen said: “Everybody wants to see Mark win a 35th stage. I’ve always been a big fan of Mark Cavendish and it would be a historic moment if he can reach it.”

On stage seven of last year's Tour, Cavendish looked set to win, only to be beaten by Philipsen. A day later, Cavendish crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone.

The first day that is slated to go the way of the sprinters is the third stage that finishes in Turin, before a further three opportunities ahead of the first rest day. 

Philipsen’s principal rivals are expected to be Belgian national champion Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), but he is also anticipating a strong Cavendish, despite the Manxman only winning three races in his 18 months riding for Astana-Qazaqstan.

“He will be good and there [in contention] for sure,” Philipsen said. “[But] it’s not that I am going to be giving away a sprint. We will try to do our best and try and beat him.”

Philipsen won March’s Milan-Sanremo but has been regularly beaten in stage races throughout the season, although mostly against two riders not present at the Tour: Soudal-QuickStep’s Tim Merlier and Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan.

Asked if he can pinpoint why he hasn’t been as consistently fast, Philipsen said: “Because the other guys are super and not slow. We also focused a lot on the Classics – we had success in Milan-Sanremo – and we weren’t focusing a lot on sprinting.

“I am expecting from myself that I’ll be sprinting faster during the Tour de France which should be the obvious goal. But of course other guys will also expect the same.”

The big weapon in Philipsen’s armoury is reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman has become a vital member of Philipsen’s leadout train in recent times, and with Van der Poel not expecting to be in contention for many stage victories himself, he will be dedicating his services to his teammate.

“Mathieu is someone that not many other teams have, or no other team in fact, so it’s something important for our team,” Philipsen said.

“It was a really good how we managed to do the sprints last year. But if there are circumstances and we have to innovate without Mathieu, we can do it. We can adapt to any situation to have maximal strength in a sprint stage.”

Sir Mark Cavendish will line up in Florence on Saturday, ready for his 15th and final Tour de France, in the knowledge that he is already making history: he will be the first knight to ever ride the French Grand Tour.

His mind, though, will be on a bigger slice of history. The 39-year-old, as I’m sure you already know, stands just one stage win away from setting the record for Tour de France stage wins. At present, the Astana Qazaqstan rider has 34, the same number as the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx, but needs just one more to forget on alone.

Whenever I think of making history, I think of an Irish play of the same name, written by Brian Friel. I doubt Cavendish is of the same mind. Instead, he will be focused on making his own history, his cycling immortality, which will come with just one more stage win.

Just one, that’s all he needs. If you think about the 164 wins the Manxman has taken over his career - a record for a male sprinter, by the way - just one more doesn’t seem like that big an ask.

I think he will do it. There might be as many as eight sprint opportunities at this year’s Tour, and Cavendish only needs one to go right. He almost had it last year, in Bordeaux, only to be denied by his gears slipping and a rampaging Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). 

Cavendish has always been one of the best at getting in the right place at the right time, and his Astana team is set up to deliver him to exactly the right point; Michael Mørkøv and Davide Ballerini were both part of the Soudal Quick-Step team which helped him to four wins in 2021, and with Cees Bol, form an enviable leadout train.

You can almost picture it in your mind. One of the stages ending in a flat finish, like Dijon or Saint-Amand-Montrond. Cavendish, hidden from view until the final moment, bursting out as if from nowhere, out-pacing his rivals, the arms outstretched. It would feel deserved too, with the man in blue coming back from so much just to be on the start line, let alone competitive.

I’ll be honest, I have done a huge U-turn on the idea of Cavendish doing it this season. He hasn’t raced as much as he usually does, through illness mainly, and has only won twice - at the Tours of Colombia and Hungary.

Also, Philipsen looked so good last season, and has built this year around the Tour again. Along with Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), there are more in form - and potentially faster - sprinters at the race.

However, the Tour is different, and the ‘Manx Missile’ thrives on the biggest of stages. He’ll be there, frustrated on days he misses out, and will find the right moment to strike. The experience he has built up counts for so much, and as long as he makes it over the high mountains, an opportunity will present itself. Also, Philipsen and De Lie can’t win all eight sprint stages, right?

Dot Tilbury, Cavendish’s first ever cycling coach when he was making his way on the Isle of Man, put it better than me earlier this month: "The only thing I can say is that Mark Cavendish wouldn't be there if he didn't think he could do it. 

“People have written him off when he has had his ups and downs, but he wouldn't have come back if he didn't think he could win. Don't write him off. When he is cooking on gas, it's poetry in motion."

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Sir Mark Cavendish will head to his final Tour de France as the first ever knight to race the Grand Tour, it was announced on Monday.

Although the news was long-trailed, his participation at his 15th and final Tour was confirmed by Astana Qazaqstan, who also detailed the support the Manxman will have in his bid to break the stage win record.

His lead-out train will be formed of Cees Bol, Michael Mørkøv and Davide Ballerini, with the latter two also present the last time Cavendish won a stage, in 2021.

Also present for the Kazakh team in Florence this Saturday will be Alexey Lutsenko, Yevgeniy Fedorov, Harold Tejada and Michele Gazzoli.

His first chance at Tour immortality will come on stage three of this year's race, from Piacenza to Torino, the first sprint opportunity.

At present, Cavendish is tied on 34 for the record for Tour stage wins with Eddy Merckx, but will have around eight opportunities to best this over the three weeks of the event.

Earlier in June, the 39-year-old, who is in his last year as a professional cyclist, followed Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny in becoming a cycling knight. However, Cavendish will be the first of this select group to race the Tour post-knighthood.

Last month, Cavendish took the 164th road victory of his storied career, which put him one win ahead of Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini, who landed 163 victories during his professional career, making him the most successful male sprinter in cycling history. 

He narrowly missed out on victory at the Tour last year, finishing second on stage seven into Bordeaux, before crashing out the next day. At the end of the 2023, he opted to continue on for one final year with Astana Qazaqstan with the aim of landing one more win at the Tour.

This year, he has so far tasted victory at the Tour Colombia and the Tour of Hungary.

Cavendish raced the recent Tour de Suisse in an effort to build up his ability to complete the most mountainous tests, of which there are many at this year's Tour de France. As much as speed at the end of flat stages, it will be staying power in hilly days which will allow the Manxman the opportunity to beat the record.

Mark Cavendish, the greatest male sprinter of all time, has been knighted in the King's Birthday Honours.

The 39-year-old, who is in his last year as a professional cyclist, follows Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny in becoming a cycling knight.

The Astana Qazaqstan rider currently jointly holds the record for Tour de France stage wins - 34 - with Eddy Merckx, but will seek to clinch at least one final stage win at the Grand Tour, which begins in a fortnight.

Last month, Cavendish took the 164th road victory of his storied career, which put him one win ahead of Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini, who landed 163 victories during his professional career, making him the most successful male sprinter in cycling history. 

His first coach, Dot Tilbury, who came into contact with Cavendish at the National Sports Centre in Douglas, Isle of Man, said that it was "well deserved" and that it "couldn't go to a better person".

"I just think it has been so long coming," she told Cycling Weekly on Friday. "What he's done for British cycling, world cycling, is just amazing, and to think he comes from an island in the middle of the Irish sea... He has been world champion, ruled the Tour de France, there aren't many accolades left for him to get, apart from the one we all want. It's fantastic news, and so well deserved. I couldn't think of anything better.

"Everybody on the Isle of Man adores him. From kids to grannies. I have a friend in her 70s who knows all the names of the top sprinters, who would never have otherwise known all the names. Everyone watches the Tour de France."

Asked if she remembers first realising Cavendish was onto something special, Tilbury said: "He came down to the National Sports Centre through BMX racing. Legend has it, he said to his mum 'if I get one of those mountain bikes, I think I can win it'. He got a mountain bike, started winning, and then got a drop handlebar bike, and it soon became apparent that he had something special. He didn't like to lose, and by lose I mean coming second. He started to show his force then, he was passionate about it."

The rider from the Isle of Man was praised by the Chief Minister of the crown dependency, Alfred Cannan.

"Mark is a phenomenal athlete, role model and ambassador for both his sport and the Isle of Man," he said. "He has performed at the highest level for more than a decade and his ‘never say die’ attitude is truly an inspiration for us all.

 "As a nation, the Isle of Man prides itself on its cycling prowess and works hard to create an environment that nurtures talent, allowing our young people to flourish. It is extremely satisfying to see Mark come through out junior cycling ranks and succeed at the very highest level."

The 'Manx Missile' turned professional in 2007 with T-Mobile, quickly establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with, taking the first of his Tour stage wins in 2008, and the first of his 17 Giro d'Italia stage wins too. He won Milan-San Remo, one of cycling's Monuments, in 2009, in an era when pure sprinters weren't supposed to win it, and won the World Championships in 2011. 

He was a regular winner throughout the 2010s, until a combination of injury, misfortune and circumstance saw the victories dry up from about 2017 onwards. However, Cavendish exploded back onto the scene in 2021, a year in which he won four stages of the Tour.

He narrowly missed out on victory at the Tour last year, finishing second on stage seven into Bordeaux, before crashing out the next day. At the end of the 2023, he opted to continue on for one final year with Astana Qazaqstan with the aim of landing one more win at the Tour.

This year, he has so far tasted victory at the Tour Colombia and the Tour of Hungary.

Mark Cavendish is now officially the greatest male sprinter of all time, after taking his 164th career win at the Tour of Hungary on Thursday. 

The second win of what is expected to be his final season took him to second place in cycling’s male all time wins ranking behind Eddy Merckx. 

Cavendish now sits one win ahead of Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini, who landed 163 victories during his professional career, making him the most successful male sprinter in cycling history. 

Despite the big achievement, the Manxman is still 89 wins behind Marianne Vos, who leads the women's leaderboard with 253 wins to her name. Vos is continuing next season, meaning that she still could come within touching distance of Eddy Merckx’s record, which stands at 277 wins. 

At the end of the 2023 season, Cavendish opted to continue on for one final year with Astana Qazaqstan with the aim of landing one more win at the Tour de France. Cavendish is currently tied with Merckx on 34 wins at the Tour, so one more victory this summer would see him become the record holder.

After winning a stage at the Tour Colombia earlier this year, Cavendish’s form was disrupted with a brief spell of illness during a block of racing in Italy. The Manxman returned to action recently and comfortably defeated several high calibre sprinters on the second stage in Hungary. 

Bora-Hansgrohe’s Sam Welsford, Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) are also all in action at the race. Groenewegen originally took second place yesterday but was later penalised for appearing to clash with Welsford in the run for the line. 

In a release from Astana after the stage, Cavendish talked through what he described as a perfect lead out from his teammates, including Michael Mørkøv. 

"The team was just phenomenal," Cavendish said. "My teammates did a great job and I managed to complete the job with a win. The finish was not easy and the final kilometres with a few corners turned out to be technically challenging. But it all worked out in the end, and I am very happy. 

"Many thanks to the whole team. Yevgeniy Gidich looked after us the whole day long, protected us from the wind, and kept us in position. Then Michele Gazzoli did a great job on the climb. Gleb Syritsa took us to a perfect position before the final kilometres of the stage. 

"Cees Bol did everything perfectly, a great lead-out at top speed in a slight uphill. In the final, Mikael Mørkøv kept the speed high and brought me close to the finish line, giving me a short explosive acceleration that ended with the win. I am really happy with this victory, I was able to approach this race in a good shape after a fruitful training block. 

"This victory will add motivation to all of us before the main goal of the season, the Tour de France."

The Tour starts in Florence, Italy on 29 June. 

Mark Cavendish took the second victory of his final season on the road on Thursday afternoon at the Tour of Hungary.  

The Astana Qazaqstan rider beat Dylan Groenewegen to the line to win stage two in Kazincbarcika. Cavendish was able to rely on a perfect lead out from his teammates and launched his sprint in the final 200 metres to snatch the win ahead of Jayco-AIUla’s Groenewegen and Jon Aberasturi of Euskaltel-Euskadi. 

After missing out on the opening day to Bora-Hansgrohe’s Sam Welsford, Cavendish said his teammates had timed their lead out train to perfection. 

"I'm really happy with it," Cavendish said following the stage finish. "Yesterday, we didn't quite hit the lead-out properly. It was super good, and everyone committed 100% yesterday, but we were just a bit eager and a bit too soon. 

"We talked and talked about that to rectify it today. It was a completely different finish today, no big boulevard or corners to make it technical, and we executed it exactly how we wanted it. I'm so happy."

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Cavendish crossed the line riding a pair of unbranded handlebars, which we’ve found out were the Vision Metron 5D model.

It was the second win of Cavendish’s season after he won a stage earlier this year at Tour Colombia. He now sits five seconds off the overall race lead in Hungary. 

The Manxman is expected to retire at the end of the current campaign after one last attempt at breaking the record for the most stage wins at the Tour de France. Cavendish is currently tied on 34 wins with Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx. 

Cavendish was just metres away from taking the record breaking win in Bordeaux last year but was just edged out by eventual green jersey winner Jasper Philipsen. 

After taking victory in Colombia earlier this year, Cavendish’s schedule was impacted by a period of sickness which led to him missing Scheldeprijs in early April. 

Cavendish pulled out of the UAE Tour in February before going on to ride Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy. 

The Manxman missed the time cut on stage five so was forced to quit the Italian stage race. Cavendish then rode Milano-Torino but also abandoned the race after suffering with cold-like symptoms. 

The 38-year-old then took part in an amateur race on the Isle of Man as he built back some form. A competitor in the Nick Corkill Memorial Race told Cycling Weekly that Cavendish’s presence was surreal. 

Mark Cavendish will make a return to competitive action at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye later this month after a period of sickness impacted his schedule in recent weeks. 

An update from his Astana Qazaqstan team confirmed that he will miss Scheldeprijs on Wednesday, a race he has won multiple times, but he will make a gentle return to competitive action in Turkey when the race gets underway on 21 April.

"After being sick for several weeks following the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Torino, Mark Cavendish has resumed his training, continuing his preparation for his biggest goals of the season," said Vasilis Anastopoulos, head of performance at Astana, in a statement from the team. 

"The team has adapted the racing plan, and as a result, Mark will miss the classic race Scheldeprijs and will instead spend some time at a training camp. 

"After that, he plans to compete in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye and then the Tour de Hongrie."

Since winning at the Tour Colombia in early February, Cavendish has endured a difficult period due to illness. Cavendish pulled out of the UAE Tour later in February before later riding Tirreno-Adriatico. After missing the time cut on stage five, Cavendish was forced to quit Tirreno. 

Cavendish then rode Milano-Torino, which was won by EF Education-EasyPost’s Alberto Bettiol, but abandoned the race after suffering with flu-like symptoms. The Manxman told Cyclingnews that a cold had disrupted his training. 

Milano-Torino was his last competitive appearance at the sports top level. But since then, Cavendish was seen riding in an amateur race on the Isle of Man in which he finished 29th. A competitor in the Nick Corkill Memorial Race told Cycling Weekly that Cavendish’s presence was surreal. 

"When I turned up, I could see his bike, and that was the tell tale sign," said James Meakin, one of the day's competitors. "It's weird to see an elite pro like him, and his bike, outside a village hall, pinning on a number with all the amateurs. But there he was, chilling casual like any other amateur road racer."

Cavendish’s main goal of the season is a record breaking 35th Tour de France stage win. He came within just a few metres of sealing the record breaking victory last year but missed out due to a late mechanical issue with his bike. 

He was initially set to retire at the end of last season but opted to extend his career for one final year in order to make one last attempt at the all important 35th stage win. He is currently tied on 34 wins with Eddy Merckx. 

The Isle of Man's Nick Corkill Memorial Race had a surprise last-minute entrant on Sunday. His name wasn’t on any of the start lists, but there, signing on with everyone else, was Mark Cavendish, former world champion and 34-time Tour de France stage winner. 

"When I turned up, I could see his bike, and that was the telltale sign," says James Meakin, one of the day's competitors. "It's weird to see an elite pro like him, and his bike, outside a village hall, pinning on a number with all the amateurs. But there he was, chilling casual like any other amateur road racer."

According to one of the race organisers, Richard Fletcher, the plan was hatched just the night before. Cavendish, back visiting his home island, messaged a racing friend to ask if he could join the event. That request trickled back to Fletcher. 

"I was actually at a party on Saturday night," he says. "I messaged Cav back and said, 'Bring your licence and bring 20 quid.' And that was it." Fletcher laughs. "He was like, 'Cheers mate.' And that was the exchange.

"Although we have to be quite strict with entry closure, because otherwise everybody just takes the mickey, we all sort of agreed that if it is a Conti-level rider or a WorldTour rider, we always put them in, because their programmes can change. That's the only slack we cut them. They rock up, pay their entry fee, and none of them complain about it.

"I, just by chance, rode from the HQ building up to the start line with Mark. He builds it into a training ride normally. He had ridden out from Douglas, about 18 or 20 miles away, rode the race, and then rode home with a bunch of them as well. He just likes the club scene."

During the race, a 50-mile loop in the north of the island, Cavendish chose to keep a low profile. "From the gun, he was very vocal with the other riders," says 26-year-old Meakin. "He made sure they were pulling their turn. There are a lot of junior cyclists who are future stars for representing the Isle of Man, and he was very good at getting everyone to work together and be a cohesive bunch."

One of those younger riders was 18-year-old Callum Salisbury, who eventually finished second to ex Team Sky rider Chris Lawless. It wasn't the first time the teenager has raced with Cavendish, who often takes part in local events and criterium races when he's home.

What's the Manx missile like in the bunch? "He's still Cav," says Salisbury. "He'll shout orders, but he's very supportive. Every time you go through, he's like, 'That's great. Well done, you're doing great there. Keep tight.' Or, 'Do this, do that.' He's always trying to help us, especially the younger ones. He's not flat-out racing, he's not here to drop everyone.

"He’s a former British champ, he's won however many Tour de France stages, but he doesn't want to ruin the race for everyone else. He could easily just run away with the race, but he wants to help more than actually race." 

As the action headed into its finale, and Lawless broke free from the bunch, Cavendish eased up and rolled towards the finish. The results sheet shows he finished 29th, behind a host of promising juniors. 

"I presented the trophies at the end," says organiser Fletcher, who also took part and placed 24th. "I'm looking out there, it's a football club house - a typical, British club event - and I'm calling out the names of people who've won the categories, and there's these people dotted in the audience, clapping, with a cup of tea in their hand. Cav's there, and he's just a normal club guy. It's really nice to see, and I know I'm getting sort of sentimental about it, but it is a nice thing." 

For Meakin, 16th on the day, the moment was "surreal". 

"It was quite funny seeing him at the prize presentation, tucking into a brew and having a few bits of cake as well," the 26-year-old says. "Everyone knows him on a local basis, so it's not quite a fangirling kind of response to him, but it's always nice to see him.

"He's done quite a bit for the cycling community here on the island, and it's even nicer that it was the Nick Corkill Memorial Race, which celebrates a guy who was renowned for giving back to the cycling community."

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

The year is 2024 and Mark Cavendish is still winning bike races. The men he beat in his first major win, at Scheldeprijs in 2007 - almost 17 years ago - have all retired, most of them years ago. The list of riders he pipped to the post in that race look to be from a different age. Careers of people like Peter Sagan and Thibaut Pinot have come and gone, yet Cavendish is still plugging away, sprinting for the line, tasting victory.

Like Jimmy Anderson, the 41-year-old English fast bowler who is still raging against the dying of the light, five away from 700 test wickets, he continues, at 38. Both men are already the greatest in their field, not arguably, but absolutely, and still they plough on. 

Cavendish needs one more Tour de France stage win to reach immortality, just as Anderson needs five more wickets to make history, but both have nothing to prove. Cavendish is the greatest sprinter of all time, and yet he yearns to complete the project.

The 38-year-old came so close to that crucial stage win at the Tour in Bordeaux last summer, for his chain to jump and deny him his perfect farewell. At the scene of the near-miss, it felt like the opportunity. A crash soon after stopped his pupported last year in its tracks, and forced him and Astana to add one more final year to his career.

It is hard to overstate the importance of the Astana-Qazaqstan rider in the world of British cycling. His win at the Tour Colombia last Friday, a race Cycling Weekly would ordinarily barely cover at all, saw me commissioning a story and editing from the pub. The thirst for Cavendish news is such that it demands to be published. It’s hard to imagine another rider to whom a stage win at a 2.1 stage race on the other side of the world would require this kind of action. Cavendish is special. A world without him cycling is a scary one.

His team knows he’s special. To that end, Astana-Qazaqstan have bet heavily on his success this year. They’ve added to his leadout train, recruiting Michael Mørkøv and Davide Ballerini, among others, and sent him to altitude training early in the year. They’ve also brought in his old coach from Quick-Step, Vasilis Anastopoulos, and seemingly changed tack fully to a sprint team.

It’s an interesting approach from a team which has a history of targeting general classification, and one which has struggled for UCI points too. We stand halfway through the latest WorldTour cycle and squads like Astana need results to ward off the likes of Lotto-Dstny and Israel-Premier Tech overtaking them. The team in blue was bottom of the WorldTour table last year, and picking up GC results and high positions in one-day races are the way to move up; sprints in stage races are not.

However, the Cavendish project, chasing that final Tour stage win, brings more than UCI points. It is a narrative, a chance to make history, and that seemingly means more. Why else would Astana give him a contract extension and remodel their team? It is all for one goal.

On the evidence of the Colombian win, Astana are ready and firing, but bigger tests will come, starting with the UAE Tour next week. A victory or even a podium against some of the current crop of top sprinters would point to a successful year, and start pointing the narrative in the right direction. Success breeds success.

A Tour stage win takes a lot more than some time at altitude and a solid leadout train, however, it needs Cavendish at his peak and a solid dose of fortune, too. Cavendish was there last year, but the luck wasn’t. 2024 needs to be different for both him and his team.

Cavendish is searching for one more result, but Astana require a lot more from him than that. A win on day four is a start, but consistency will be key to a crucial year. The Kazakh team have gone all in on the Missile, and now they just need to beat the house.