Tour de France record breaker, World Champion, true warrior: What was the greatest moment of Mark Cavendish's career?

And so it is finally official, after months of rumours and whispers of a potential return of the 2025 Tour de France, the man with the most ever Tour de France stage wins, and the greatest sprinter of all time, Mark Cavendish has announced his retirement from the sport. And this time it will be for good, well probably anyway.

The Manx Missile is in Singapore this weekend, at the Tour de France Singapore Criterium, where he has raced final time in his incredible professional career. He told reporters ahead of the race, “Sunday will be the final race of my professional cycling career. I am lucky enough to have done what I love for almost 20 years, and I can now say that I have achieved everything that I can on the bike."

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"Cycling has given me so much and I love the sport, I’ve always wanted to make a difference in it and now I am ready to see what the next chapter has in store for me. Thank you, everyone, for all the support, always."

The word ‘legend’ is thrown around far too casually in the sporting world these days, but when Cavendish gets called a legend, he truly deserves it. The most decorated sprinter of all time has had a truly incredible career, and this seems like the perfect time to look back on some of his best moments.

World Champion

Let’s go back to 2011, the year Mark Cavendish added the rainbow jersey to his palmares. At the World Championships in Copenhagen, Cavendish knew this would be a big chance for him to become the world champion, on a course suited to the peloton’s fast men.

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He was supported by a supreme British team, that included Bradley Wiggins, that was on the verge on a glorious era of success on the road. The British team were abled to control the race, and set up the sprint for Cavendish, and back then if Cavendish had even a chance of victory he was almost guaranteed to take it. In the end, the Max Missile launched his move in the final kilometre, and roared past Matthew Gross and his rival Andre Greipel to become the fastest cyclist in the world.

Cavendish became just the second British male to win the road race, after Tom Simpson all the way back in 1965. He was certainly a deserved wearer of the coveted rainbow jersey, and he won some epic races in the jersey, especially at the following year’s Tour de France.

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Tour de France 2012

The 2012 Tour de France presented Cavendish, the world champion, with a new challenge, as he was not the main focus of his team. He’d joined Team Sky for 2012, who’s main goal was to win the Tour de France with Bradley Wiggins, but Cavendish didn’t let this prevent him from lighting up the Tour whilst wearing the rainbow jersey.

Whilst his opportunities were more limited than previous years, as Team Sky dedicated their team to helping and supporting Wiggins, Cavendish still picked up three stage wins. None were more impressive than his win on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where he won for the fourth year in the row. Led out by the yellow jersey winner Wiggins, Cavendish blew past his rivals to remind the world he was still the best sprinter on the planet. Not only was this one of the greatest moments of Cavendish’s career, the image of Wiggins in yellow leading out his man in the rainbow jersey in Paris is one of the greatest British sporting moments.

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Fighting to the bitter end in 2018

No, this is probably not on most people’s list of Cavendish’s greatest moments, in fact it was probably one of his worst. But it was a true show of character, for a man we know will never, ever give up.

During the 2018 Tour de France, Cavendish battled against the clock and refused to quit on his way to finishing a brutal mountain stage. Stage 11 of the Tour was one of the most punishing, taking riders through the Alps with relentless climbs and sharp descents that tested the sprinters to the very limit. It became clear very quickly that Cavendish was facing an insurmountable challenge.

As the race progressed, Cavendish and other sprinters fell behind the main group, fighting against the elimination time cut that loomed over the sprinters in the mountainous stages. Despite his effort, Cavendish crossed the line outside the time cut, ending his hopes of completing that year’s Tour. It was a moment that showcased not just the physical toll but the psychological weight carried by sprinters in the mountains, where survival, not victory, is the goal. The image of Cavendish finishing the race despite having missed the time cut, with pain smeared across his face, is one that highlights his attitude and committed to completing even the most impossible of tasks.

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Return to the Tour de France in 2021

After years on the sidelines, still agonisingly close to the Tour de France stage win record, Cavendish returned to the Tour in 2021. After years marred by illness, injury, and doubts about his future, Cavendish's participation in the Tour seemed improbable. However, following a late call-up to Deceuninck–Quick-Step, Cavendish seized the opportunity with both hands and rolled back the years with one of his best Tour de France campaigns.

From the very start, Cavendish showed signs of his old self, winning Stage 4 in Fougeres, a site where he had tasted victory before back in 2015. It was a poignant moment that not only brought him closer to Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour stage wins, but reminded the world that he could still be among the world’s best. It was a powerful moment watching Cavendish celebrate the victory, knowing he’d overcome the demons of his past few years.

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Cavendish went on to win three more stages in the 2021 Tour, tying Merckx’s record with a spectacular win on Stage 13 in Carcassonne and equalling the Belgian legend’s long-standing record of 34 career Tour de France stage wins. Although he narrowly missed breaking the record with a fifth win that year, his performance was hailed as a comeback for the ages, showcasing his relentless drive and legendary sprinting speed. He also won the green jersey that year, the first time he’d managed that since back in 2011, ten years earlier.

Record breaker

In a moment that will forever be etched into cycling history, Cavendish won Stage 5 of the Tour de France earlier this year, bringing his career total to an unparalleled 35 Tour stage victories. This moment had been three years in the waiting, after he missed the 2022 Tour, and suffered an injury at the Tour in 2023. He was eventually convinced to hold off retirement for 1 more year, and you can bet he and the cycling world are glad he did.

In a field that included young sprinters like Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen, many thought Cavendish would be denied the win and that his day had been and gone. He’d not looked at his best throughout the season, and he was nearly dumped out of the Tour on stage 1 after suffering in the heat.

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But on stage 5, he was not to be denied. He roared away from his rivals, and could not be stopped on his way to a truly historic moment. Following his win, the peloton’s best riders could be seen congratulating Cavendish, as the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel acknowledged they had just witnessed a legend at work.

And so that was that, Cavendish will end his competitive career tomorrow. He will be missed by the cycling world, but his highlight reel will be the stuff of legend for years to come. We know we’ve not covered all his best moments, so we leave you with a question: What was your favourite moment of Cavendish’s career?