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."
