21 things you didn't know about Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish is 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.