Mark Cavendish said on Monday he will retire at the end of the season, bringing the curtain down on the career of one of cycling’s all-time great sprinters.

The British rider, whose 34 Tour de France stage wins are joint most with Belgian legend Eddy Merckx, will have one final chance to claim the record outright in July when he takes part in the race one last time.

The 38-year-old, known as the “Manx Missile”, made the announcement alongside his wife and children at a press conference in Coccaglio during Monday’s rest day at the Giro d’Italia.

More details on SportsDesk. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.