After weeks, months, even years of back and forth, Mark Cavendish appears to have confirmed that he really truly is retiring this year, and that he will not attempt to add to his 35-stage win tally at next year’s Tour de France, despite the temptation of the first yellow jersey of the 2025 race.
In a video post to his own Instagram profile, the fondly nicknamed ‘Manx Missile’ wrote that, “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. 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.”
The race in question is the ASO-organised Singapore Criterium, the last of the official Tour exhibition races – spoiler: Cav will probably win it.
A year after crashing out of what was meant to be his last Tour in 2023, the 39-year-old Manxman had apparently been mulling over his latest decision to retire following the successful completion of ‘Project 35’ at this year’s Tour, which was also the last (real) race he competed in.
He said just last weekend at the Saitama Criterium, “I’m not talking about the future, if that’s ok.” Though in hindsight, this soundbite now looks like little more than delaying the announcement for a more impactful moment: the eve of his last-ever professional outing.
That said, the recent announcement of the 2025 Tour route got the peloton’s fast men salivating due to the near-guarantee that the first yellow jersey of the race would go to a sprinter, and Cavendish appeared to be among those feeling the pull of temptation. However, the Tour’s most successful sprinter in history will not be there, not as a rider at any rate.
“[Cycling is] what I know, have success in, it’s what I have the network in, it is what I love more than anything,” Cavendish told media in Japan when asked if he could imagine a career outside the sport. “So of course, I’d want to stay in cycling forever.”
Whether Cavendish stays at the ailing Astana Qazaqstan in a staff role or is snapped up by another squad seeking to upgrade their sprinting prowess remains to be seen. But regardless of what’s next, it seems we have finally arrived at the end of an era that began almost 20 years, 15 Tours de France and 165 wins ago.
Chapeau, Sir Cav.
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