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About Mark Cavendish:
Mark Cavendish is surely the greatest road-race sprinter in cycling history. There have been some fine sprinters in the past, Sean Kelley, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Mario Cipollini, Robbie McEwen, André Darrigade, Erik Zabel, Freddy Maertens, René Le Grevès, Charles Pelissier, but Mark Cavendish is cycling's greatest. He is, in the word of Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme "The greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of Cycling".
Cavendish, born on the Isle of Man, turned pro in 2005 and won eleven races that rookie year.
If you look at the list of his victories posted below, you will see that he came into his own in 2007 with several high-end wins. The next year he began winning
Grand Tour stages, including two in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France.
After 2016 race wins started coming less often and it was rumored that he would retire after the 2020 season because he could not get a team to hire him. He did find a place with the prestigious Deceuninck Quick-Step team, but he was paid the UCI's minimum salary of 40,000 Euros and had to bring his own sponsor to the team.
And then he began winning again starting in April with the 2021 Tour of Turkey where he won four stages and in 2022 he also won a few races, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Deceunink Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere who did not renew Cavendish's contract at the end of the 2022 season.
For 2023 Cavendish found a place on the B&B Hotels-KTM team, but the team quickly ran into financial problems and collapsed in December of 2022.
Cavendish found a spot on Alexander Vinokourov's Astana-Qazaqstan team. He rewarded the team with his seventeenth Giro d'Italia victory when he won the 21st stage.
He won his 35th Tour de France stage in 2024, making him the record holder with one more stage win than Eddy Merckx.
His final race was on November 10, 2024 when he won the Tour de France Singapore Criterium. That win gave him 165 career victories, second only to Eddy Merckx at 279 and two ahead of Mario Cipollini's 163.
Major victories & high placings:
Professional Teams:
Photos: All by Fotoreporter Sirotti unless otherwise noted.
2010 Tirreno Adriatico stage 2, Bernhard Eisel leads Mark Cavendish
2010 Vuelta a España: Cavendish puts on the GC leader's Red Jersey after His HTC-Columbia team won the stage one team time trial.
2012 Tirreno-Adriatico stage 2
2013 Tour de France stage 10
2013 Tour de France stage 13, time trialing at Mont. St. Michel
2013 Tour de France stage 21.
2015 Tour de france stage 1
2015 Tour de France stage 2 on the podium with Bernard Hinault
2015 Tour of San Luis stage 7.
2015 Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6. A soggy day at the races.
2015 Tour de France stage 7. Cavendish looks well-pleased.
Mark Cavendish wins stage 2 of the 2016 Tour of Abu Dhabi
2016: Before the start of stage 3 of the Tour of Abu Dhabi
Cavendish wins Abu Dhabi Tour stage four, run under lights.
Cavendish at the start of the 2016 Milano-Sanremo
Mark Cavendish signs in before the start of the second stage of 2016 Tirrenno-Adriatico
2016 Scheldeprijs, Cavendish is second to Marcel Kittel (on the right)
Before the 2016 Paris-Roubaix, Cavendish checked out the cobbles.
2016 Tour de France stage 1, the stage is Cavendish's.
Cavendish's reward for his stage win, the Yellow Jersey.
2016 Tour de France stage 6. Cavendish give his bike a serious throw to win the stage.
Cavendish in the green points jersey after stage 6.
Mark Cavendish wins stage 14 of the 2016 Tour de France
Cavendish on the podium after his Tour stage win.
2016 World Road Championships: Peter Sagan wins, much to Mark Cavendish's (on right) displeasure.
2021 Tour of Poland stage one. Cavendish about to sign in.
2021 Tour of Turkey stage 8.
2021 Tour de France stage 13
Cavendish racing in the 2021 Ghent 6-Day
Cavendish wins the 2022 British Road Championships.
Mark Cavendish wins stage 21 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia
On the podium after stage 21 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia
Before the start of 2023 Tour de France stage 4.
Mark Cavendish signs in to stage 3 of the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico
2024 Tour de France stage 5: Cavendish gets his 35th Tour stage win, more than any other race in Tour history.
2024 Tour de France stage 12.
2024 Tour de France stage 13.
Cavendish finshes his final Tour de France, 2024 Tour, stage 21
Cavendish wins the 2024 Milano-Torino
Cavendish finishes his career in a blaze of glory, winning the 2024 Tour de France Singapore Criterium. ASO photo