Cavendish wins on Champs-Élysées as Contador takes 2009 Tour de France

Mark Cavendish wins on the Champs-Élysées to take his sixth stage of the race - Alberto Contador wins the overall - Lance Armstrong finishes on the podium in his comeback year (a result he is later stripped of) - Bradley Wiggins finishes in fourth place in first GC attempt, fuelling belief in UK that he could one day win the Tour.

Mark Cavendish wins, Tour de France 2009, stage 21

Mark Cavendish was expected to become the first British rider to win the final Tour de France sprint on the Champs-Élysées but nobody could have expected him to win by so much.

Cavendish confirmed his status as the fastest sprinter in the world and his team mates proved yet again that they are perhaps the best ever lead-out train in cycling.

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.