With his record-breaking 35 Tour de France stage wins, Mark Cavendish confirmed his status as the greatest sprinter of all time. But his greatness is not reducible to his Tour wins, nor to a total number of wins – it’s far more nuanced than that. It’s about the specific nature and characteristics of his wins, how he developed an instinct for getting in the right position at exactly the right time. Choosing his best wins, then, was never going to be an easy task.
Cavendish has 165 individual victories on his palmarès, and each and every one of them undoubtedly played a part in the UK cycling boom in the early 2010s. Just ask Dot Tilbury, Cavendish’s first ever coach, about the excitement and inspiration his career has sparked among the young cycling community on the Isle of Man. This is part of greatness too – the impact a sportsperson has on their home nation and region.
Still, it’s a question that can’t be avoided: which was his best win? Of course there is no objectively correct answer, and that’s another part of the beauty of great performances – how they provoke passion, divide opinion and generate spirited debate. It’s only because we care so much. To take on the impossible task of ranking Cavendish’s best, most career-defining wins, we assembled a panel of experts (see box) – our top 10 is based on their collective opinion.
18) Tour de France 2010, Stage 18, Bordeaux – ‘The man with three legs’
“The man with three legs,” as Phil Liggett described him, made it look easy on stage 18 of the 2010 Tour de France, before going on to win in Paris two days later. Cavendish locked himself onto Thor Hushovd’s back wheel in the closing straight, before jumping with the line in sight.
Fresh faced and full of fire in 2010
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17) Tour of Britain 2012, Stage 8, Guildford – Capping a year in rainbows
The Tour of Britain brought the curtain down on a year in the rainbow bands. Cavendish signed off with a bang. Fans in Guildford, Surrey, were treated to his fi nal victory as world champion as Cavendish beat Boy van Poppel by three bike-lengths.
16) Madison Track World Championships 2005, LA – His first World Title
The British Cycling academy had only been running for two years when Cavendish provided the group with its fi rst major win in Los Angeles. Alongside Rob Hayles, the 19-year-old Manxman finished one lap ahead of the field to win the gold medal and world title.
Making his mark on the Madison in Los Angeles
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15) Tour De France 2010, Stage 20, Paris – Winning again at the unofficial sprinters world champs
Cavendish’s first win in Paris came 12 months previously, but win number two on the Champs-Elysées underlined just how dominant he was set to become. Unlike in 2009, his Colombia- HTC lead-out men were unable to dominate the head of the race, but Cavendish proved he could go it alone, speeding up to comfortably beat Alessandro Petacchi on the line.
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14) Scheldeprijs 2007, Belgium/Netherlands – breakthrough on the road
Two years after his first major track win, Cavendish had his breakthrough win on the road, at the 2007 edition of Scheldeprijs. After Robbie McEwen launched his sprint, Cavendish swung out from behind a Quick Step rider to just edge out the Australian for the win.
13) Giro D’Italia 2023, Stage 21, Rome – a helping hand from an old friend
Cavendish’s move to Astana in 2023 saw him eager to get the band from the Quick Step era back together. But as the team built for the Tour de France, it was an old friend from Cavendish’s GB academy and Sky days who lent a helping hand to ensure his first Astana win. A lead-out from Geraint Thomas delivered a win on the fi nal day of the Giro d’Italia.
Edging Tom Boonen at Scheldeprijs
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12) Scheldeprijs 2008, Belgium/Netherlands – never celebrate too early
Cavendish’s second Scheldeprijs victory was testament to his tenacity. Tom Boonen thought he had the victory sewn up, but the Manxman had other ideas. Boonen celebrated before the line, but a late bike throw from Cavendish stole the victory.
11) Tour de France 2009, Stage 19, Aubenas – king of the hill
The parcours of stage 19 in Cavendish’s best ever Tour was, on paper, not typically one for the sprinters. A huge category-two climb stood in the way of the Colombia- HTC lead-out train as the race closed in on Paris. Cavendish was king of the hill, though, getting over the climb before romping to yet another win.
10) British National Championships 2022, Elite Men’s Road Race, Scotland – National Champion for a second time
From the moment the flag dropped in Castle Douglas, Cavendish spent the entire day in the breakaway at the British National Championships. The Manxman showed extraordinary endurance on a course unsuited to sprinters, keeping tabs on the other contenders on the climbs, before controlling the race on the flat run-in with just three men left.
“From the moment the flag dropped until the moment he won it, he shaped the race entirely according to his own will; it was just extraordinary,” remembers Ned Boulting. “He found a way to win a bike race that I’d never seen before.” A spot at that summer’s Tour de France was looking unlikely; he had a point to make in the torrential rain. “I think he felt genuinely aggrieved that he wasn’t going to the Tour,” Boulting adds. “What he then did was just exceptional. He was like a sheep dog herding sheep all day. He was completely in control of everyone else in that group.”
(Image credit: Alamy)
9) Tour de France 2021, Stage 4, Fougères – Back to winning ways at the Tour
Before the 2021 Tour, after the Covid-19 pandemic had decimated the 2020 season, Cavendish had been written- off by many within cycling. In the autumn that year, he hinted that he wasn’t long for the sport, but 2021 sparked a renaissance.
His latest comeback proved to be arguably his biggest. A stage four victory in Fougères led to a landslide for the Manxman, with three more victories and the green jersey in Paris.
Back to winning ways at the Tour in 2021
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8) Tour de France 2016, Stage 1, Normandy – Getting the monkey off his back
Pulling on the yellow jersey, a life-changing experience for any sprinter, changed Cavendish for many different reasons, according to Brian Smith. “He got the monkey off his back that day,” Smith says. “The only thing that mattered that year was winning the first Tour stage and taking the yellow jersey, which put a lot of demons to bed. That was the first time he beat his nemesis Marcel Kittel on a one-to-one basis. He went on to win another three stages.”
Cav kicked his demons into touch in 2016
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7) Tour de France 2009, Stage 21, Paris – ‘Absolute perfection’
Cavendish won six stages of the 2009 Tour de France, but he saved the best until last, capping off a superb display from Colombia-HTC in Paris. “It was just absolute perfection in the lead-out from me and Mark Renshaw,” says George Hincapie, who led Cavendish to the kilometre-to-go marker. “It was such a big moment.”
Re-watching the TV footage still raises a smile for Bernie Eisel too. “On that first side shot where the camera was following Renshaw, you see Cav shooting through, and then nobody else goes through. That always stands out.”
6) Tour de France 2008, Stage 5, Chatauroux – The first one, and a special one
Cavendish’s first win at the Tour de France was a masterclass in how to utilise a sprint lead-out train correctly. With a handful of kilometres to go, the squad then known as Team Colombia, got to work on the front of the peloton and set a hard pace to catch a breakaway up the road.
“We had to invest so much to bring that breakaway back, and it was just killing each of us,” recalls Eisel, part of Cavendish’s lead-out train that afternoon. “Mark finishing that all off was I think one of the best I’ve ever seen from him.”
5) Tour de Framce 2012, Stage 21, Paris – Led out by the Maillot Jaune
Synonymous with memories of the 2012 UK cycling boom is the image of a yellow-clad Bradley Wiggins powering across the Place de la Concorde before leading out Cavendish into the Champs-Elysées. It was an image that drew a torrent of enthusiasm for the sport as the home Olympics beckoned. Cavendish had already won on the hallowed boulevard in central Paris before, but not in the rainbow jersey.
“It was a special one for all of us,” says Bernie Eisel, part of the Team Sky line-up for La Grande Boucle in 2012. “We couldn’t really enjoy the yellow jersey, as we were working on the Champs-Elysées. It must have been the fi rst time in history that the winning team didn’t just roll over the line together. The yellow jersey leading out the world champ – it was super, super special.”
A legendary lead-out on the Champs-Elysées
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4) Tour de France 2024, Stage 7, Saint Vulbas – Tour win 35, history made
Cavendish’s record- breaking 35th Tour de France stage win exemplified his battling qualities as a bike rider. If it proves to be the final major act of his career, then it was a fitting way to bring down the curtain.
“The way in which he won it,” says David Millar, struggling to find words. “I still can’t fathom that he did it.” Millar highlights win number 35 as his personal favourite from the Manxman. “He did it in a way that was almost a masterclass from Mark Cavendish’s greatest hits. Everything about it was just perfection and him bringing order to chaos. Despite all that pressure, he had this will to win that just transcended logic completely. I was literally speechless.”
Becoming the most decorated Tour rider
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3) Milan-San Remo 2009 – ‘I can win the Worlds now’
“He phoned me up and he didn’t even say hello,” remembers Rod Ellingworth. “He just said ‘I can win the Worlds now’.” It was the evening after Cavendish had taken his first Monument victory, on his debut at Milan-San Remo.
But it very nearly didn’t happen. Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler launched Thor Hushovd’s lead-out from distance, with the finish line still several hundred metres away. This forced Cavendish to start his acceleration early, putting in the sprint of his life to latch on to the Australian’s back wheel before passing him on the line. “Out of nowhere, Cav just came past me like a f*****g rocket in the last half a second and just took it on the line,” Haussler recalls. “I threw my bike so far that I was literally hanging off the back. But I just knew straight away that he had it,” Haussler adds. Having proved himself capable of winning after nearly 300km of racing, the 24-year-old turned his attention to a rainbow-coloured prize.
Tears of joy at the 2009 Milan-San Remo
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2) World Championships Road Race 2011, Copenhagen – Mission accomplished
Two years after vowing to Rod Ellingworth that he would win the Worlds, Cavendish made it reality. In September 2011, he became road world champion in Copenhagen after coming out on top in a frenetic sprint for the line in Denmark. “It felt like a massive relief when he won that race. When you look back, it was some performance,” says Ellingworth.
Great Britain aimed to dominate all day before teeing up their man on the line. But it very nearly went pear-shaped after GB lost control in the closing kilometres, as David Millar explains: “In the last 600m, it looked like it was going to pieces amidst the chaos of the bunch,” Millar remembers. “It looked like it was all over but somehow he found the gap and got through and did it.” The pressure on Cavendish had been immense. “He had this huge weight on him and expectation,” says Millar. “Those types of Worlds [with a bunch sprint finish] come along so rarely.
It’s rarer than the Olympics for a sprinter to actually have a chance of winning the Worlds.”
World domination in Copenhagen
(Image credit: Future)
1) Tour de France 2021, Stage 13, Carcassonne – Who’s laughing now?
To have come back from rock bottom to win a stage at the 2021 Tour de France was remarkable; adding a second was extraordinary; and to win a third was the stuff of dreams – but to win a fourth, equalling Eddy Merckx’s record of 34, while wearing the green jersey, was the icing on the most spectacular sprinting gateau ever baked.
Five of our nine experts ranked this as number one, the best of the best. “Everyone had laughed at us,” says Brian Holm, recalling the ridicule Quick Step had received for daring to re-sign Cavendish. “The rest is history – they didn’t laugh anymore. [The stage 13 win] was the best thing I ever saw him do because it truly confirmed the comeback. I still get goosebumps talking about it.” Indeed, it was arguably the greatest comeback in cycling history – given how low Cavendish had been, physically and mentally, at the end of the Covid-19-ravaged 2020 campaign. For Holm and Michael Mørkøv, both part of Quick Step at the time, this marked the fi nest moment of his career. After leading him out for the win, Mørkøv took second. “It was such a hot day,” adds the Dane, recalling Cavendish’s struggle through the high mountains. “With 10km to go, Cav told me he didn’t have the legs to sprint. I pushed him to go for the stage and told him I’d make it short for him. He won his fourth stage in the green jersey – it was incredible.”
