Sir Mark Cavendish is looking forward to racing as a Knight Commander as he received a knighthood at Windsor Castle. The 39-year-old from the Isle of Man finished this season with a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win in what he said would likely be his last race.
He has postponed retirement before and has since given mixed messages about whether he will race again. “I’ve still got races this year,” he said. “I’m still training for them, it will be really nice to race as a Knight Commander.”
However, he repeated that he will not be trying to extend his record. “I’ve already said I won’t do another Tour de France,” he said. “That’s public knowledge.”
On receiving a knighthood, he said: “I didn’t honestly know I’d be nervous, but I’m so incredibly proud of representing the country.”
He revealed he spoke to Prince William about cycling. “I think the last time we met was at the Tour de France in Yorkshire and I crashed at the end of that stage. He asked me if I was doing anything else up there and he was talking about my career, which was very nice.”
He reflected on his long and successful career and expressed his delight at the growth of the sport. “I am very fortunate to have got to do what I love for so many years and to see other people inspired by that,” he said.
“Seeing how many people ride bikes now, seeing the growth of cycling in this country now and seeing how successful we’ve become at it … it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of that. I’m just a lad from the Isle of Man, to be a Knight Commander, that’s not something I could ever have dreamed of.”
Cavendish has registered 165 career victories on the road, including the 2011 world title, stages of all three Grand Tours and Milan-Sanremo, in 2009. He also secured a silver medal in the omnium at the 2016 Olympics and is a three-time Madison world champion on the track.
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Cavendish said part of his family had high expectations after he was knighted. “One of the boys thinks I’m going to be walking about in armour,” he said.