After announcing he will be retiring at the end of the 2023 season, Mark Cavendish has been inundated with tributes and glowing references. According to Eurosport analyst Jens Voigt the timing is perfect.
“I was exactly 50:50 if he's going to announce one more year, or if he’s going to retire, until he actually said the words," says the German ex-pro on Eurosport's coverage of the Giro d'Italia. “Because he's chasing that elusive record with the Tour stages. And not sure if he's going to make it this year, if he's going to do or if he is actually going to win this stage. On the other side, I completely understand."
Key to Cavendish's reasoning behind his decision was the chance to spend more time with his young family. It was actually his son's birthday on Monday, the day that the Astana Qazaqstan Team sprinter announced this was his final year.
"I mean, look at the pictures. What a happy family he has, happy healthy children, a wonderful wife, wonderful family. It's only fair to think, ‘You know what? I'm fed up with travel and sacrifices," says Voigt. “I suppose quality time with the family makes perfect sense."
Currently at the Giro d'Italia, Cavendish has been plagued by bad luck. Crashing numerous times, 'the Manx Missile' is yet to taste victory since moving teams over the winter. “This Giro, with so much rain and so many crashes. I mean, if you remember his spectacular crash. He finished fifth on a stage, sliding across the line on his butt cheeks. So maybe that reminded him how bloody hard the sport is and how dangerous it is," Voigt recalls. “So bad weather, a tonne of crashes, super hard profile of this Giro. Maybe his body was telling him you just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Mark Cavendish has had so many miracle comebacks, like almost nobody else,” continues the two-time former Tour de France stage winner in 2001 and 2006. “How many tough crashes, the Epstein-Barr virus. He came back and back again and again and he came back and still at a really good level. So, I think it's a good decision for him. He’s got his happy family, he feels his body is maybe not at 100% anymore. So, I understand him. It makes perfect sense to me."
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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