SINGAPORE: Mark Cavendish will compete in his final professional race at the two-day Tour de France Criterium in Singapore on Sunday, the British cyclist said on Saturday, bringing down the curtain on his glittering career.

Cavendish, the world’s most decorated sprinter, announced his retirement last year before reversing that decision and breaking the all-time record for most stage wins at the Tour de France during this year’s race.

The 39-year-old won an individual silver medal on the track at the 2016 Rio Olympics and claimed three world titles in the madison discipline.

“Sunday will be the final race of my professional cycling career,” Cavendish said on Instagram. “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.”

Cavendish racked up 165 victories in his career, including 35 stage wins at the Tour — one more than Belgian great Eddy Merckx. He also won the road world title in 2011.

His explosive ability to win bunch sprints earned Isle of Man native Cavendish the nickname “the Manx Missile”.

He was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Virus in 2017, an infection that causes glandular fever, and suffered a difficult few years before enjoying a return to form in 2021, winning four stages of the Tour de France with the Deceuninck-QuickStep team.

Last month, he had said that he “will see” about racing in next year’s Tour de France, explaining that he “saw things a bit differently” despite previously vowing not to compete in it again.

He refused to discuss his retirement after finishing third at the Saitama Criterium in Japan last weekend.

“I’d rather not talk about my future,” he told reporters, shortly after defending Singapore Criterium race champion Jasper Philipsen suggested that the Manxman would be calling it quits after the race.

Cavendish finished second behind Philipsen in last year’s race and the Belgian said the Briton would pose the biggest challenge to his title defence in Singapore.

“It’s always difficult to repeat and definitely with this being Mark’s last race, I think he’s very motivated as well to show off his amazing career that he had for the last time here in Singapore,” said the 26-year-old, ahead of Cavendish’s own announcement. “So it will be a tough, tough competition I think.”

The race will feature 36 cyclists from nine teams including four-time Tour de France champions Chris Froome of Britain, four-time Vuelta Espana Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, and rising Eritrean star Biniam Girmay, who beat Roglic and Cavendish to win last week’s Criterium in Saitama.

They will complete 25 laps of the 2.3-kilometre circuit in Singapore’s historic Civic District.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024