FAREWELL TO A GREATNESS – MARK SIMON CAVENDISH OR SHORT: CAV
Cyclelive Magazine wants to put the greatest sprinter of all time in the spotlight one more time with an overview of his richly filled career.
Cool no-nonsense guy or a jerk?
Mark Cavendish was a racing living legend until Nov. 10, 2024. A pure sprinter who won almost all of his victories on the road in a bunch sprint. A rider who brought out emotions in virtually every cycling fan. A jerk in the eyes of many and, on the other hand, an emotional, friendly, no-nonsense guy to others. Rarely will anyone not have had an opinion about the sprint bomb from Manx. But aside from his outspoken character, Cavendish is without a doubt one of the best, and for Cyclelive Magazine – the very best sprinter there ever was.
"For us, he is without a doubt the best sprinter there ever was.”
From track cyclist to road cyclist
Cavendish became a professional cyclist in 2005 and can truly be called a “track product” as he was trained on the track. In youth, he achieved numerous victories on the track. In 2005, 2008 and 2016, he also became world team race champion. In 2005 he was paired with Robert Hayles, and in 2008 and 2016 with Sir Bradley Wiggins. The fact that Cav also won an Olympic silver medal in the omnium in 2016 is also sometimes conveniently forgotten in Belgium, but that still further emphasizes the Cannonball’s champion status.
World title
In addition to his three world titles on the track, he became world champion on the road in Copenhagen on Sept. 25, 2011. In 2016, he is also second on the podium in Qatar, where Peter Sagan can don the rainbow jersey for the second time.
First Tour de France 2007
After turning professional during 2005, when the 2007 Tour de France starts in London, he rides his first grand tour in T-Mobile Team colors. In the4th stage Waregem-Compiègne he appears in the top ten of the day’s classification for the first time. With in front of him the top sprinters of the time like Fabian Cancellara, Erik Zabel, Tom Boonen, Robbie McEwen, Bernhard Eisel. In the 8th (Alpine) stage Le Grand Bornand-Tignes, DNF appears behind his name. But he comes back and how!
Saying series in the years 2008-2018
Between 2008 and 2013, Cavendish starts five times in the Giro d’Italia and puts seventeen stage wins on the counter(2008: 2, 2009: 4, 2011: 3, 2012: 3, 2013: 5 including wins in the points classification). Also included are the two team time trials in 2009 and 2011. In the Tour de France, there is an unbroken run of 12 participations between 2007 and 2016 with 30 stage wins. (2008: 4, 2009: 6, 2010: 5, 2011: 5, 2012: 3, 2013: 2, 2015: 1, 2016: 4). In the Vuelta a España, he starts twice. In 2010 he wins four stages, including 1 team time trial including the points jersey, and in 2011 he records a abandonment. The total victory counter then stands at Tour: 30, Giro 17 and Vuelta 4 makes a total of 48. In 2017 and 2018, the crop remains at zero.
Years 2021, 2022, 2023
In December 2020, Cavendish signs a contract with the Deceuninck-Quick Step team. He joins the Tour as a 36-year-old to replace Sam Bennett. He seems to have blossomed back into his full potential with Patrick Lefèvre. He crossed the finish line four times as stage winner and also won the points classification. What a substitute! With his 34 Tour de France stage wins, he then equaled Eddy Merckx. In 2022 Fabio Jakobsen is preferred as a sprinter in the Tour de France team. Then to the Giro d’Italia starting in Budapest. He does not disappoint the team. Around Lake Balaton in Hungary, he scored another stage victory in the third stage by leaving behind Arnaud Démare and Fernando Gaviria. In the 2023 Giro d’Italia (Astana), Cavendish let everything come down to the final day in Rome. Such a final stage usually doesn’t amount to much. A day earlier, Slovenian Roglic has driven Briton Thomas out of pink in a fantastic climbing time trial. The classification is then made and only the final stage remains, which is for the sprinters. What we get to see is not only a sprint but also a piece of camaraderie. It is Cav’s friend and former teammate Geraint Thomas who takes the lead in the final kilometers and keeps the pace high to drop Cavendish off in an ideal position.
The game succeeds. That’s how beautiful cycling can be! With 120th place, his best finish ever in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, Cavendish can pack his bags with satisfaction. When he signs with Astana for 2023, he is guaranteed the Tour de France. It is not easy for him because in the eighth stage Libourne-Limoges he has to leave the arena after a fall. The total then looks like this: Giro d’Italia 19, Tour de France 34 and Vuelta 4 becomes a total of 57. Cipollini also stands at 57 and Merckx is and remains the leader with (officially) 64 victories.
Apotheosis with red lantern in 2024
Although he said in 2023 that it would be his last year he is coming back to that and so he will be at the start in Florence on June 29 for his 15th Tour de France. The ultimate goal is to improve the record of 34 stage wins he now shares with Eddy Merkcx. The question, of course, is whether such a goal is a realistic one for a 39-year-old.
After the first sprint stage was won by Biniam Girmay, Cavendish is already on a roll in the fifth stage from St-Jean-de-Maurienne to-Saint Vulban (177 km). In order, he beats his sprint colleagues Jasper Philipsen, Alexander Kristoff, Arnoud De Lie and Fabio Jakobsen. A Dutch newspaper pithily headlines : “Sprint veteran has accomplished his mission in Tour”. For that, he was brought to the Astana team to accomplish this feat in their colors. The record of 35 stage wins in the Tour de France has been realized and will go into the history books. All the rest is then just a matter of prestige: riding it out. In other words there will be more than 2,500 kilometers left in front of his wheels. After his win, he is in 170th place at 1h37’40” in the general classification.
Of the 176 riders who started, 174 are still in the race. To make a long story short, he can start the final time trial in Nice. He will then be in 140thand penultimate place at 6h13’57”. Only his teammate Davide Ballerini is still more than a minute behind him. Then it becomes a trade-off between the two men. Cavendish records a gap of 09’14“ (134th) and Ballerini 07’46” (113th). As a result, the red lantern is handed to Cavendish. Outside all the winners of the classifications, Cavendish is also honored on the podium of honor. Then his chapter is closed. Who will break the new record? Pogačar, who still has many years ahead of him, is well on his way with 17 stage wins in the Tour!
So hard to say goodbye
There were very few races in 2020 due to the corona epidemic. Cavendish, at the age of 35, could no longer secure a new contract with his employer Bahrain-McLaren. In Gent-Wevelgem his last race for Bahrain Mclaren, Cavendish jumped in with the day’s breakaway riders in order to gain another spotlight. After the finish, he tearfully recounted, “This may be the last race of my career.”
However, this was beyond Patrick Lefevere who saw his chance to push Cavendish to greatness one more time. Patrick offered Mark a one-year contract with Deceuninck-Quick-Step and what, outside of Lefevere, no one expected from him anymore, happened anyway. At the Tour of Turkey 2021, Cav managed to capture his first wins in three years, immediately winning four stages there, the harbinger of what was to follow. Reborn as he was at Omega Pharma-Quick-Step, the now 36-year-old Cavendish grabbed four stages and the green jersey at the 2021 Tour de France.
He was given a new contract in 2022, but Lefevere’s team favored Fabio Jacobsen as a sprinter for the Tour. Cavendish was very disappointed that he would not be able to break Merckx’s record and started looking for a new team at the end of the season. The dream of becoming a record holder alone clearly did not leave him. It wasn’t until mid-January 2023 that Astana Qazaqstan Team offered the British champion a one-season contract. Cavendish scored his first and only victory of the 2023 season, in the final stage of the Giro d’ Italia in which he had previously announced he would retire as a professional cyclist at the end of the season….
At the Tour de France where Cav was determined to win his 35th stage victory, disaster struck in what would be his last Tour. He crashed in the eighth stage and had to leave the Tour with a broken collarbone.
Records prove to be important after all
The urge to break Eddy Merckx’s record and become an individual record holder was too great and at the end of 2023 came the news that in 2024 in the Astana team he will once again take a shot at the Tour de France stage record. On July 3, 2024 and at the age of 39, he managed to turn the urge/dream of only becoming a record holder into reality.
Mark Cavendish is pre-eminent living proof that palmares, records and comparisons with the past do matter in cycling. How else do we explain his enormous drive to yet break that Eddy Merckx record – 34 stage wins in the Tour – and become the record holder alone? It simply meant very much to Cavendish to break that record.
“A huge drive to still take that record from Eddy Merckx.”
All time rankings:
And finally, we add a few facts that not everyone will know by heart: Mark Cavendish is ranked 26th on ProCyclingStats’ ALL TIME RANKING. That’s just one place better than Mario Cipollini. Cavendish has won a total of 165 professional victories, putting him in second place in terms of victories in the all-time ranking in terms of professional victories. This underlines the greatness of the best sprinter of all time with a thick marker!
Ranking professional UCI victories:
1. Eddy Merckx: 279 victories
2. Mark Cavendish: 165 victories
3. Mario Cipollini: 163 victories
So it should be obvious how important these statistics are for Cavendish. Yep, because he scored three UCI victories in 2024, jumping over Cipollini into second place and thus also becoming only record holder of number of stage wins in the Tour. Mark had a clear plan before quitting: grab the record and second place on that all-time ranking of victories. So it happened and now he can say goodbye as a rider with full satisfaction, at least…if he doesn’t change his mind again after the holidays….
“Mark wouldn't stop until he also grabbed that second place on the all-time ranking.”
Main victories
35 Rides Tour de France ’24, ’21, ’16, ’15, ’13, ’12, ’11, ’10, ’09, ’08
17 Rides Giro d’Italia ’23, ’22, ’13, ’12, ’11, ’09, ’08
3 Rides Vuelta a España 2010
1 x World road champion 2011
1 x Milano-Sanremo 2009
3 x Scheldeprijs 2011, 2008, 2007
2 x Points classification Tour de France 2021, 2011
2 x Final classification Tour of Qatar 2016, 2013
Final classification Dubai Tour 2015
3 Rides Tirreno-Adriatico 2014, 2012, 2009
3 Rides Tour of Switzerland 2014, 2009)
2 x Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2015, 2012
Text: Teus Korporaal and Patrick Van Gansen
