“It’s my favourite place in the world to ride a bike” — No place like home for Mark Cavendish

Cycling legend Mark Cavendish retired last year after a long and successful career in which he arguably became the best sprinter ever, amassing 165 wins, 35 of which came at the Tour de France. They say there is no place like home, and Cavendish seems to agree, as he immediately returned to his hometown, the Isle of Man, once he retired.

Speaking at the launch of his fifth book, Believe, the 40-year-old former sprinter from Laxey said that despite cycling across the globe in a career filled with Olympic, Commonwealth, and World Championship medals, nothing compares to riding in the Manx landscape.

“It’s my favourite place in the world to ride a bike and for me, it’s the best place in the world to train,” he said. “The weather’s not great a lot of the time, but that toughens you up,” he remarked in comments gathered by the BBC.

Known as the Manx Missile, Cavendish was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours in 2024 and later received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. Yet, he said that beyond accolades, what makes him happiest is spending more time back home.

“It’s been great to be back loads this year,” he said. “My heart’s always there. To be able to spend time there again, I just love it. It’s beautiful. Waking up and seeing the sea on a morning is something that has always been with me from growing up there.”

The Isle of Man’s affection for its most famous cyclist was marked when the raceway at the National Sports Centre, where he trained as a child, was renamed in his honour in 2024.

“I get the sense that everyone is proud of what I’ve done and they say ‘oh, great race last week’, but it’s just like that, I’m just Mark. That’s where I feel most like ‘just Mark’,” he said.

Cavendish described the island as a place of calm and community, where he can feel at ease after years of global competition. “I feel chill on the island,” he said. “Life kind of slows down. Everyone is friendly and welcoming. It’s a small community and when you grow up there… it’s very nice, it’s very safe and very wholesome.”

Despite retiring from competition, Cavendish remains deeply connected to cycling and believes the Isle of Man has all the ingredients to produce new champions. “As long as I can remember, there were 200 kids down there on a Tuesday night, and there’s still 200 kids down there on a Tuesday night,” he noted.

The former world champion hopes to continue seeing the three legs of the Manx triskelion (which form the Isle of Man flag) represented in races worldwide.

“We’ve definitely got the best tools and the best place to ride a bike, so there shouldn’t be any excuse not to,” he said. “I’m the biggest believer that if you put the hard work into anything you want to achieve and you believe enough, then you can do what you want to do. I was never, physically, the best cyclist by any means, but I worked and I believed,” he concluded.