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Sir Mark Simon Cavendish KBE (born 21 May 1985) is a retired Manx professional road racing cyclist.[9] As a track cyclist he specialised in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he was a sprinter. He is widely considered one of the greatest road sprinters of all time,[10][11] and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.[12] He holds the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France (35), achieved across 15 Tours and 17 years (2008-2024).
In his first years as an elite track rider, Cavendish won gold in the madison at the 2005 and 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships riding for Great Britain, with Rob Hayles and Bradley Wiggins respectively, and in the scratch race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games riding for Isle of Man. After failing to win a medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics he did not compete on track again until 2015, subsequently winning his third UCI Track Cycling World Championships title with Wiggins in the madison in 2016, and an individual silver medal in the omnium at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
As a road cyclist, Cavendish turned professional in 2005 and achieved eleven wins in his first professional season. Cavendish has won 35 Tour de France stages, putting him first on the all-time list, contributing to a third-highest total of fifty-five Grand Tour stage victories. He won the men's road race at the 2011 Road World Championships, becoming the second British rider to do so after Tom Simpson. Cavendish has also won the points classification in all three of the grand tours: the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2011 and 2021 Tour de France[13] and the 2013 Giro d'Italia. In 2012, he became the first person to win the final Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years.
Cavendish won seven Grand Tour stages in 2013, one in 2015 and four in 2016. This included a win on stage one of the 2016 Tour de France, claiming his first Tour de France yellow jersey. He crashed with Peter Sagan on stage four of the 2017 Tour de France, forcing him out of the race. Cavendish continued producing good results until August 2018, when he was diagnosed with Epstein–Barr virus. Before his diagnosis, Cavendish was able to compete in the 2018 Tour de France but was disqualified after not making the cut-off time on stage eleven. He returned to the Tour de France at the 2021 edition, winning four stages and his second points classification. In 2024, he claimed his 35th Tour stage win to break the overall stage victory record, previously shared with Eddy Merckx.
In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, Cavendish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "for services to British Cycling." He also won the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award with nearly half of the votes going to him out of a field of ten nominees. In June 2024, Cavendish was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2024 Birthday Honours for "services to cycling and charity work."[14][15]
- ^ "Mark Cavendish can leave Sky, says boss Dave Brailsford". BBC Sport. 22 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
Nicknamed the 'Manx Missile',
- ^ "Mark Cavendish". Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Decolef. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
- ^ a b "Mark Cavendish Tour de France profile". Archived from the original on 17 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
- ^ "Cavendish signs with Team Dimension Data for 2016". VeloNews. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ^ "Dimension Data finalise 2019 roster". Cyclingnews.com. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018.
- ^ Ostanek, Daniel (26 December 2019). "2020 Team Preview: Bahrain McLaren". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020.
- ^ "Deceuninck – Quick-Step". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ Ryan, Barry (5 December 2020). "Mark Cavendish signs for Deceuninck-QuickStep for 2021 season". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
- ^ "Astana Qazaqstan Team". UCI. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "GREATEST ROAD SPRINTERS #1: MARK CAVENDISH". Peloton Magazine. 13 February 2017. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020.
- ^ Kröner, Hedwig (21 December 2011). "The top ten sprinters of all time". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019.
- ^ "'Comeback kid' Mark Cavendish poised to join Tour de France immortals". The Guardian. 18 July 2021.
- ^ Parker, Ian (18 July 2021). "Tour de France 2021: Tadej Pogacar wins as Mark Cavendish just misses out on stage record". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ "Cavendish knighted in King's Birthday Honours". BBC Sport. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
- ^ "Order of the British Empire". The London Gazette. Retrieved 16 June 2024.