Mark Cavendish: "As long as I can still be a professional bike rider and win, I want to be a professional bike rider"
Cycling
Mark Cavendish clearly still had the ambition to remain a professional cyclist, and into 2023 after a long winter of negotiations he found his new spot at Astana Qazaqstan Team. He reiterates how he keeps enjoying his role in the peloton.
"I love my sport. I just love it. I’m a bike rider, I always was a bike rider. Why would I not continue?" Cavendish told Gazetta dello Sport. "I think I’ve done enough for this sport. I think I’ve earned the right to finish when I want to finish and not have someone else telling me when I should stop."
A legend of the sport, the veteran sprinter has achieved success that is within reach of virtually no rider. He is long past his peak but his move into Soudal - Quick-Step saw him back to a great level, but one that has not been seen yet since joining the Kazakh team. He has insisted that neither he or the team has put much pressure on his shoulders, and he explains the reasons behind his Tirreno-Adriatico participation.
"I got sick after the UAE Tour, and I had a low week in terms of training because I had to recover. I was going well, and I really wanted to perform here in Tirreno, and at Milano-Torino and Milan-San Remo, but now I’ve got to use Tirreno to get my form back up," he explains. "We’ll see, but it seems like Giro and Tour are in my plans, so we’ll make a big summer."
Having performed in the crosswinds and finished third on the opening stage of the UAE Tour saw him having competitive rhythm. He has not yet been able to contest another stage victory but is looking to regain his winning ways this spring. He's struggled to be in contention on the opening sprint at Tirreno-Adriatico where he's looking to build his top form.
"For sure, it’s not going to change my life, but as long as I can still be a professional bike rider and win, I want to be a professional bike rider. And when you’re a professional bike rider, you need goals, and you need motivation. Of course, I want to try and win every race, but the Tour was always where I peaked every year. I’m not going there to win one more, I’m going there to try to win as much as I can," he continued.
The Tour of Turkey is another likely destination for the Manxman ahead of the Giro d'Italia where he is likely to be present for the opening weeks. In 2022 he won the opening sprint of the race and he's hoping to have the best possible leadout in order to chase another glory day.
"All I can do is count myself lucky that I was a rider who was able to get another job. A lot of riders, a lot of staff members, a lot of people were left without work, and that makes me sad. All I can do is count myself lucky that I could come to a place where I’m happy," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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🇮🇹 RACE: @TirrenAdriatico We are at the 3rd stage of the race - 216 km from Follonica to Foligno. All our riders are in the main group. Seems to be another chance for a sprinters today. Good luck, guys! 📷 @SprintCycling #TirrenoAdriatico #AstanaQazaqstanTeam
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