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‘I won’t ever regret stopping now, that’s for sure’ – Mark Cavendish’s last Tour de France wasn’t really about the record

Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 03/07/2024 - Cycling - 2024 Tour de France - Stage 5 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint Vulbas - France - Mark Cavendish, Astana Qazaqstan.
(Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The towns changed but the feeling never really did. From Châteauroux to Carcassonne, Mark Cavendish would scarcely have descended from the podium before his thoughts were already slowly turning from that day’s bouquets to the next day’s pressures. For sixteen years, a Tour de France stage win was eaten bread soon forgotten. There was rarely any time to savour the taste.

The build-up to the most recent stage win had been interminable, from late in the 2021 Tour to the opening week of this year’s race. In between, Cavendish left one team and his career survived the collapse of another. He missed selection for one Tour then crashed out of the next. He announced his retirement last year only to walk it back for one last go on the carousel. 

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Barry Ryan
Head of Features

Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.