MARK CAVENDISH ONE LAST LAP

As he prepares for his final Tour de France, Chris Marshall-Bell looks back on Cav's career at the world's biggest race

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There has never been, and possibly will never be, a greater sprinter in the history of the Tour de France than Mark Cavendish. As the Manx Missile prepares to hang up his racing wheels after almost two decades in the sport, he will do so with a 14th and final appearance in the race that has defined him as much as he has defined it.

From a debut on home soil right through to two green jerseys and a record-equalling 34 stage wins, Cavendish’s relationship with the Tour has been as up and down as his career as a whole, with enormous highs and the deepest lows.

Starting out

Cavendish made his Tour de France debut as a neo-pro in 2007 aged just 22, earning selection not just because of the race’s start in London, but because he had been building up a collection of impressive victories, including at the sprinters’ Classic Scheldeprijs and two stages each at the Four Days of Dunkirk and Volta a Catalunya.

“Today when a rider turns pro we know everything about them, but with Mark it was a blank piece of paper, but as soon as he started delivering we could see the first signs of his power, of his immense speed,” remembers his longtime teammate and friend Bernie Eisel. “Even though everyone was still asking, ‘Who the hell is Mark Cavendish?’ and we had no idea what his trajectory was, we could all see his speed.”

The Tour, however, was an altogether different beast, and Cavendish was like the proverbial fish out of water.