He’s been noticeably coy on the subject since winning that record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win back in July, but it seems that we’re creeping ever closer to finding out exactly what Mark Cavendish plans to get up to when he hangs up his aero racing bike for good (probably) at the end of the year.
And it may involve following the well-trodden path of many ex-pros into a team car, or in some other management capacity in the sport. Oh, and some running, too.
Last week, after months of speculation, Tour de France organisers ASO essentially confirmed that Cavendish had raced competitively for the final time in Nice, on the final time trial stage of his history-making Tour, by announcing that his appearance at next month’s Tour de France Prudential Criterium in Singapore would be the “the last race for sprint legend Mark Cavendish” (it’s not really a race, but you get what they mean).
> Mark Cavendish set to race for final time as a professional in November at Tour de France Singapore Criterium, organisers ASO confirm
However, in a new interview with Men’s Health, which focused on his post-retirement plans, the newly knighted Sir Cav remained elusively ambiguous and noncommittal when it came to his plans for 2025.
“I’m still racing this year, I’m contracted until December. I’ve got races in the far east in [November],” the 39-year-old told the magazine. “What is guaranteed is that I’m never doing the Tour de France again.”
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Yes Mark, but there are other races too, you know?
Reflecting on the latest of his many retirement U-turns last year, following his race-ending crash at the Tour, Cavendish continued: “I changed my mind so much over a three-month spell. I crashed out and I had good and bad luck, but I thought that was it. People said to me, I can’t finish like that. But I’m the one person who knows how fucking hard it is.
“I chopped and changed my mind from day to day and even now, I haven’t entirely committed to what I’m doing, except for the fact that I cannot prepare for the TdF ever again. Cycling is hard enough, the TdF is another level. That is a dead cert
“I had no idea how my head would be after doing my last Tour de France, but it just feels like every other one. You say the same thing when you finish every time: ‘Fuck that, I’m never doing that again’. Then two days later you’re telling yourself you can’t wait to go again.”
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Despite leaving the door open, still, to a reduced programme of smaller races next year – just no Tour, okay? – Cavendish the went on to talk about his post-retirement plans, which could involve a step into management, which he says he has been preparing for a while.
“I speak to Peta a lot about replacing the thrill of what I do,” the Astana sprinter said. “Even before I was a bike rider, I always had to be the best I could be. If there was a spelling test at school, I had to win it. At sports day, I had to win. I was a perfectionist.
“Everything I did in my teenage years was building up to be a cyclist. I knew I wanted to ride for T-Mobile, so I asked to learn German to make that happen. I went to work to save money to make it happen. I had a plan to turn pro. When I was pro, I had a trajectory of races I wanted to win and how I wanted to progress. I was fortunate for most of my career that it worked. Then suddenly you’re older.
(ASO/Charly Lopez)
“For me, though, it’s not about stopping, it’s about starting something new. I will always ride a bike, but the past few years I’ve known what I want to do after. I’ve set the wheels in motion for that. I want to stay in management in the sport, I still love it.
“I brought a lot of people to this team [Astana Qazaqstan] over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful. I’ve been building up to the moment I’m not racing.”
> “The Tour de France is bigger than cycling. And we’ve done it”: Record-breaker Mark Cavendish’s greatest ever Tour de France stage wins
And if he’s not in a team car or bus, orchestrating the next great sprint train, or piecing together a fresh new squad (will crisis-stricken Ineos come calling? Hmmm…), Cavendish could soon be swapping his cycling shoes for some running ones – at least occasionally, anyway. And because it’s handier than setting up all your bike kit.
“I will always ride my bike, but I want to run now,” he said. “It’s pure – get your shoes on and off you go! I’ve already agreed to do the Paris marathon with my brother. He started cycling before I did, and he was better than I was. Past four years, he’s started to get fit. He’s riding and started running. For the first time since we were kids, he’s lighter than me.
“I’m really looking forward to the time when I don’t have to wake up and do a specific programme on a computer. I can just ride with my friends, it doesn’t matter if I go fast or slow.”
The fastest man in the world turned weekend plodder – whatever Cav does in 2025, that’s a trajectory I can get behind. Just not the Paris Marathon bit, that’s a step too far.
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“We would ask that motorists follow the rules of the highway in order to keep themselves and other road users safe,”
Good luck with that.
Seattle’s new narrow cycling chicane looks like it will be fun during the morning commute
Inspired by Edinburgh?
That's old news! Sadly although the "tram" folks were particularly hopeless with other modes we keep "innovating"...
Here's a new wiggly cycle path on Marine Drive (view from here, Streetview hasn't caught up). I guess at least it's separate from pedestrians. But despite all the space in the world here there are lots of wiggles in the path. It's unclear whether "looks good on the visualisation" or it's more to "slow those dangerous scorchers down"?
All part of a bigger plan for the area (thinking bigger is good) but given the number of new houses planned in the North West this needs a complete cycle network creating, not to say connections to the existing city-wide cycling network (such as it is). And some of the existing details of implementation are already worryingly poor...
How to deal with the sign being flattened by drivers in Preston.
Sign gets flattened once: reinstall and ask drivers nicely to follow the law.
Sign gets flattered again: bollard time.
Good idea, but better would be putting explosives in the sign.
I believe it is against the law to publish a news story about the Irish city of Limerick and not include an example of its eponymous poetry form, so here's my feeble attempt:
At the opening of a brand new bike lane
A passing motorist made his opinions quite plain
The infrastructure is nice
But the quantity does not suffice
So build more, and without a Seattle chicane.
Presumably that chicane in the cycle lane is Frances Farmer having her revenge on Seattle?
Famously when he was 14 his uncle offered him a choice for his birthday of a bicycle or a guitar and he chose the guitar...he wasn't averse to cycling though, at least as a kid, this picture is him aged about 11 with his sister and step-siblings - he is second from the right.
Naturally., brake levers gave it away...