Mark Cavendish – a Retrospective

Mark Cavendish has announced his final finish line – he’ll be retiring at the end of this season. In doing so, he leaves behind a huge legacy in the sport.

From starting with the T-Mobile team in 2006, he has made himself arguably one of best sprinters of his generation. His palmares – his list of accomplishments – is comparable to the best in the sport and he’s achieved nearly everything there is to achieve.

He’s got Commonwealth and Olympic medals, he’s a multiple World Champion on the track, British Road Race Champion and World Road Race Champion. There’s still many accolades I haven’t mentioned, however to me he is a Grand Tour sprinter beyond compare. 

During his decorated career, Cavendish worn the leader’s jersey in each of the Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta a España) and won the points jersey in each – typically won by the best sprinter. Between the three races he has in excess of 50 stage wins- most riders would give their right arm to get one. 

My first recollection of Cavendish is watching the 2008 Tour de France- the race that got me hooked to cycling. I can still remember him being interviewed by ITV immediately following an unsuccessful stage from Saint Malo to Nantes where the main bunch failed to chase down a group that broke away at the start of the day. This was meant to be Cavendish’s first big chance of a stage victory that year. His response to the questions in the aftermath of the day’s exertions were brusque to say the least.

That was always part of his charm – he didn’t pull punches with the media. That’s not to say he wasn’t media savvy: his comments in the lead up to his victories at Milan-San Remo and the World Championships in Copenhagen were designed to throw people off the scent that he’d be capable of winning them.

His spikiness in interviews has been a tonic against an increasingly sterile and media-trained peloton.

Cavendish always had a different way of looking at things, he would sometimes have an almost meticulous hyperfocus on races and finales.

In his first autobiography, Boy Racer, he details how he would study the final kilometres of each stage he was targeting to win and figure out the best route for any roundabout, taking to Google Maps to see what they looked like to increase his familiarity and make the decisions in his hotel room the night before rather than in the heat of battle when the fog of war and emotions can take over. 

He is a rider who wears his heart on his sleeve, who takes criticism personally and it’s for that reason he did a victory celebration that caused quite a stir at the time.

In winning a stage of the Tour de Romandie, he did a two-fingered salute for the print media – the logic being it followed the tradition of English archers at Agincourt showing the French soldiers they still had the source of their power; Cavendish showing the press “I’ve still got it”. Unfortunately the optics on such a move are never good to a casual observer and despite the explanation, the organisers saw fit to expel him from the rest of the race.

Emotions ran high into Fougères in 2021 when after a few years without winning at Le Tour (due in part to Epstein-Barr virus), Cavendish showed again that he’s still got it.

Supreme tears of joy came out and it set the Manx Missile on his way to equalling Eddy Merckx’s stage victories record of 34. Only bad positioning on the Champs Élysées prevented him getting the outright title of most stage victories at the Tour de France. 

Since then, lots has been made in the media about a strive for 35, but I’ve come to realise that as much as I’d like it to happen, it doesn’t matter whether it does or not. Yes, you read that correctly, breaking the record does not matter. 

There’s a lot of time between today and the Tour, he might not even ride the race, for example he could get injured and miss it entirely. But more to the point, if he breaks the record of stage victories outright then he won’t be confirmed as the best ever sprinter because he already is.

Merckx won mountain stages and time trials amongst his 34 wins and Mark has won 34 stages all in sprints – a 35th doesn’t change his incredible ability as a bunch finisher nor take away from the variety that Eddy Merckx has.

So in the summer, stage victory (victories) or not, Cavendish will remain the best sprinter at the Tour and will do forevermore – unless someone manages to break his record of course.