Mark Cavendish, the greatest male sprinter of all time, has been knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours.
The 39-year-old, who is in his last year as a professional cyclist, follows Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny in becoming a cycling knight.
The Astana Qazaqstan rider currently jointly holds the record for Tour de France stage wins – 34 – with Eddy Merckx, but will seek to clinch at least one final stage win at the Grand Tour, which begins in a fortnight.
Last month, Cavendish took the 164th road victory of his storied career, which put him one win ahead of Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini, who landed 163 victories during his professional career, making him the most successful male sprinter in cycling history.
His first coach, Dot Tilbury, who came into contact with Cavendish at the National Sports Centre in Douglas, Isle of Man, said that it was “well deserved” and that it “couldn’t go to a better person”.
“I just think it has been so long coming,” she told Cycling Weekly on Friday. “What he’s done for British cycling, world cycling, is just amazing, and to think he comes from an island in the middle of the Irish sea… He has been world champion, ruled the Tour de France, there aren’t many accolades left for him to get, apart from the one we all want. It’s fantastic news, and so well deserved. I couldn’t think of anything better.
“Everybody on the Isle of Man adores him. From kids to grannies. I have a friend in her 70s who knows all the names of the top sprinters, who would never have otherwise known all the names. Everyone watches the Tour de France.”
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Asked if she remembers first realising Cavendish was onto something special, Tilbury said: “He came down to the National Sports Centre through BMX racing. Legend has it, he said to his mum ‘if I get one of those mountain bikes, I think I can win it’. He got a mountain bike, started winning, and then got a drop handlebar bike, and it soon became apparent that he had something special. He didn’t like to lose, and by lose I mean coming second. He started to show his force then, he was passionate about it.”
The rider from the Isle of Man was praised by the Chief Minister of the crown dependency, Alfred Cannan.
“Mark is a phenomenal athlete, role model and ambassador for both his sport and the Isle of Man,” he said. “He has performed at the highest level for more than a decade and his ‘never say die’ attitude is truly an inspiration for us all.
“As a nation, the Isle of Man prides itself on its cycling prowess and works hard to create an environment that nurtures talent, allowing our young people to flourish. It is extremely satisfying to see Mark come through out junior cycling ranks and succeed at the very highest level.”
The ‘Manx Missile’ turned professional in 2007 with T-Mobile, quickly establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with, taking the first of his Tour stage wins in 2008, and the first of his 17 Giro d’Italia stage wins too. He won Milan-San Remo, one of cycling’s Monuments, in 2009, in an era when pure sprinters weren’t supposed to win it, and won the World Championships in 2011.
He was a regular winner throughout the 2010s, until a combination of injury, misfortune and circumstance saw the victories dry up from about 2017 onwards. However, Cavendish exploded back onto the scene in 2021, a year in which he won four stages of the Tour.
He narrowly missed out on victory at the Tour last year, finishing second on stage seven into Bordeaux, before crashing out the next day. At the end of the 2023, he opted to continue on for one final year with Astana Qazaqstan with the aim of landing one more win at the Tour.
This year, he has so far tasted victory at the Tour Colombia and the Tour of Hungary.
