Legend Cavendish to retire on Sunday

Mark Cavendish was nicknamed the 'Manx Missile' because of his finishing speed in bunch sprints

Britain's Mark Cavendish, the most successful sprinter in cycling history, will retire after racing in the Tour de France Criterium in Singapore on Sunday.

The 39-year-old from the Isle of Man, who said in May that this season would be his last, broke the Tour de France record for stage wins with his 35th victory in July.

Cavendish won the road world title in 2011 and twice won the green jersey - awarded to the rider with the most points - at the Tour.

He has won 165 races since the start of his professional career in 2005, including 17 stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Vuelta a Espana, and received a knighthood in October.

On the track, Cavendish won omnium silver at the 2016 Olympics and was a three-time madison world champion.

"Racing career - completed it," Cavendish, who rides for the Astana-Qazaqstan team, wrote 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 showed promise as a BMX and mountain bike rider, and was then part of the new era of investment in cycling in Britain as British Cycling dominated track cycling at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

He began his professional career on the road in 2005 in a feeder team for T-Mobile, winning his first Tour stage in 2008 for Team Columbia.

Cavendish suffered from injury and illness from 2017 and hinted at the end of the 2020 season that he could retire.

But following a return to form the following year he won four more Tour stages and the green jersey in his second spell with Quick Step.

Cavendish and his family were the victims of a violent robbery at their home in 2021.

He was omitted from Quick Step's Tour squad the following year, after which he signed for Astana-Qazaqstan for 2023.

Cavendish was set to retire at the end of the 2023 season but, after a crash ended his involvement in the Tour that summer, he delayed it by a year.

Having jointly held the record for Tour stage wins with the legendary Eddy Merckx since 2021, Cavendish surpassed the Belgian with victory in Saint Vulbas in July.

He finished third in the Tour de France Saitama Criterium in Japan last weekend.