Is Mark Cavendish really done? Ahead of 'final race', Cav wavers on un-retirement

One of cycling's greats will hang up his bike this weekend after finishing the Tour de France (TdF) Singapore Criterium.

Or at least, that's the expectation, with Mark Cavendish due to ride in his final professional race on Sunday (10 November) around the streets of the South-east Asian city-state.

But things in sport move quickly. And it seems the 39-year-old "Manx Missile", who holds the Tour de France record for most stage wins with 35, is at least entertaining the idea of going back on his decision to retire – for a second time.

Last week at the route presentation for the 2025 Tour de France, which has been described as more sprinter-friendly than the 2024 race in which Cavendish won Stage 5 to become the wins record-holder, Cavendish was surprisingly among the guests of honour – not something you might expect if the Manxman is indeed not racing next year.

And asked if he would consider coming back, he was non-committal: "You finish (the race) and you think 'I'm never doing that again', then a couple of days later you miss it… We'll see," he said.

From "never again" to second Cavendish un-retirement?

This turnaround seemed unlikely even two months ago.

Yes, Cavendish does have form for changing his mind – he was going to retire after 2023 but, deciding he had unfinished business after crashing out of that year's Tour with 34 stage wins, announced that autumn that he would return for 2024.

"After last year I was exhausted, you know how it is. I said ‘never again’," he said at the 2025 route presentation in Paris. "Then I went on holiday with my wife and kids and really relaxed for the first time in years. I saw things a bit differently."

This year, though, the Manxman hadn't raced since finishing the Tour in July until the recent end-of-season TdF Criterium exhibition races in Asia, including one in Saitama, Japan, last weekend.

"Life has been great. I've been riding my bike, spending time with my kids. I've been travelling and I've been busy, I've just come back from a holiday with my children. It was the first time I could really enjoy a holiday," Cavendish added.

And, as recently as during that holiday in October, Cavendish told Men's Health that a return to the pro peloton was out of the question: "What is guaranteed is that I’m never doing the Tour de France again.

"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."

Yet, there is now doubt in the air as "Cav" wavers on that decision once more.

What could keep Mark Cavendish going?

Last year, Cavendish had a reason to change his mind – he'd been tied with the great Eddy Merckx on 34 and wanted a chance to make the stage record his own instead of going out with a crash – and his decision to return was vindicated.

So what would a return in 2025 possibly be for? Why would Mark Cavendish come back?

First, it's important to note he hasn't said he will return. As it stands, this weekend in Singapore will still be the last time the 2011 world road race champion climbs into a saddle as a professional rider. Indeed, in Saitama, he brushed off questions about his plans, saying "I'm not here to talk about my future".

But there are compelling reasons for the Isle of Man native to reconsider. While he already holds the stage record, there are two significant draws of next year's TdF route.

First is the relatively flatter opening to the race, which includes a likely bunch sprint at the end of the opening stage, opening the possibility for a sprinter – Cavendish? – to wear the prestigious race leader's yellow jersey.

"It's quite a contrast to this year," Cavendish said when asked for his thoughts about the 2025 parcours. "Whereas this year was pretty flat days or really mountainous, it is kind of squashed out so that the mountainous days aren't as shocking as last year. The profile's a lot more, I guess, 'medium' profile."

That could make it easier for the pure sprinters like Cavendish to make it to the final stage, which is returning to the Champs-Élysées in Paris after a detour to Nice this year due to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Cavendish already holds the record for most stage wins on the Champs with four, but a fifth – in the edition marking 50 years since the race first finished on the famous Parisian boulevard – would be quite the way to sign off.

And there's the matter of repaying the faith of Alexander Vinokourov, the general manager of Cavendish's Astana Qazaqstan team who has believed in him for the last two seasons.

Astana are under threat of relegation from their UCI WorldTour status to the second-tier ProTour and are currently ranked last of the WorldTour teams on the team rankings. A few more race wins from Cavendish would surely help them gain much-needed points to keep their WorldTour license for the next three years.

If Cavendish does retire, what next?

Cavendish loves cycling. Of that there is little doubt. So even if he does decide that Singapore is the end after all, expect him to still be a familiar face at races.

His good friend Brad Wiggins moved into broadcasting after his own retirement, but Cavendish is more open to staying involved with a team.

"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," he said to Men's Health. "I still love it. I brought a lot of people to (Astana) over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful."

As for a career not related to cycling? It's unlikely, but on that, too, 'Cav' wavered.

"You never know," he said last week in Saitama. That said, it seems unlikely. "(Cycling is) what I know, have success in, it's what I have the network in, what I love more than anything.

"I'd want to stay in cycling forever."