Mark Cavendish - a career in pictures
- Published
Early in his career, Cavendish competed for the Isle of Man on the track at the Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the men's scratch race in 2006
He soon discovered a place where he would become legendary - on the roads of France and Italy
By 2012 he was riding for the British Team Sky, who won the Tour de France overall with Bradley Wiggins as Cavendish won three stages
Cavendish and Wiggins remained close friends after Cavendish left Team Sky
After missing out on medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Cavendish won silver in the omnium in Rio - vindicating his decision to pull out of the Tour with five stages remaining
Cavendish returned to the Tour in 2017, but left the race following a huge crash involving rival Peter Sagan
Sagan was blamed and thrown out of the race; Cavendish retired injured
Following a run of poor form because of illness and injury, Cavendish returned to win four more stages in 2021
He equalled the Tour stage win record of the legendary Eddy Merckx (right), but just failed to break it on the final stage in Paris after being pipped to the line by Merckx's fellow Belgian Wout van Aert
Cavendish missed the 2022 Tour, but showed there was still plenty left in his legs by winning the final stage of the 2023 Giro d'Italia - six days after he said he would retire at the end of the season
Cavendish went agonisingly close to taking sole ownership of the all-time Tour stage wins record when he was pipped by Jasper Philipsen in the seventh stage on Friday
And 24 hours later the pain was etched across his face as he was forced out of the race after an innocuous crash 60km from the finish