British cyclist Mark Cavendish is one of 10 sportsmen to have made it onto the shortlist for the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
Cavendish joins Darren Clarke (golf), Luke Donald (golf), Rory McIlroy (golf), Mo Farah (athletics), Dai Greene (athletics), Amir Khan (boxing), Andy Murray (tennis), Alastair Cook (cricket) and Andrew Strauss (cricket). It's the third consecutive year that the Manx sprinter has made the final 10.
The final list of 10 sportspeople was revealed on the BBC's The One Show at 7pm on Monday evening. The shortlist was drawn up by a panel of 27 sports editors from national and regional publications. The winner will be decided by public vote during a live broadcast of the award ceremony on Thursday December 22 from Media City UK, Salford Quays.
The annual accolade sets out to reward the sportsman or woman who has given the stand-out performance of the year and captured the imagination of the nation.
This year, Cavendish added to his already impressive list of wins with two highly significant victories. In July, he became the first British rider to win the Tour de France green jersey after claiming five stages of the race. In September, he became the second Briton to win the men's road race World Championships after Tom Simpson in 1965.
Simpson was the first cyclist to win the BBC SPOTY award, and he did so in the same year that he won the World Championships. The last cyclist to walk away with the coveted SPOTY title was Sir Chris Hoy in 2008 after his triple gold medal-winning performance at the Beijing Olympic Games. The British cycling team also won the Team of the Year award with GB performance director David Brailsford taking the Coach of the Year title.
Junior road race world champion Lucy Garner is one of ten sportspeople on the shortlist for the 2011 Young Sports Personality of the Year award.
This year's senior award shortlist is noteworthy as it includes no women or representatives from football or rugby.
Last year's SPOTY award went to jockey AP McCoy from Northern Ireland, who won the 2010 Grand National.
This week's issue of Cycling Weekly magazine kicks off our campaign to get people voting for Mark Cavendish as this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Related link
Garner on BBC Young Sports Personality shortlist
Mark Cavendish: Rider Profile
2010 SPOTY: Comment - Cavendish, a sportsperson with a personality
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