Mark Cavendish has taken the victory in the final race of his long and impressive career – the 2024 Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium organized by A.S.O. Cavendish won the race by finishing first in a mass sprint across the finish line in downtown Singapore after 57.5 kilometers of hectic racing where many riders were eager to prove their worth. 

The rider from Great Britain was born on Isle of Man on May 21, 1985, and grew to become a legend in professional road cycling by winning 166 races since turning professional in 2005.

The TDF Prudential Singapore Criterium featured several prominent cyclists, including Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Chris Froome (PremierTech), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Vincenzo Nibali, and Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty).

The 2024 TDF Prudential Singapore Criterium was animated from the very beginning as several riders were eager to participate in breakaways while being cheered by the large crowds in the streets of Singapore. A smiling, but focused, Cavendish was wearing race number 35 in honor of his thirty-five Tour de France stage victories.

With Thomas de Gendt still being very active in what was also his final race, a small breakaway group featuring Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, Cahyadi, and Biniam Girmay had formed. The group had a small advantage over the chasing peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from Team Astana and Alpecin-Deceuninck in support of their sprint aces Cavendish and Philipsen.

While the riders from Astana and Alpecin-Deceuninck fought hard to keep the race under control, Biniam Girmay won the final intermediate sprint of the race. The rider from Eritrea then fell back to the peloton to preserve energy for the expected mass sprint race finish.

The breakaway was almost caught with approximately five kilometers left, but a persistent Froome reanimated the race by counterattacking from the front group. Froome was joined by Nibali, while other breakaway participants were caught by the peloton.

Nibali and Froome were finally caught with three kilometers left of the race, which was contested in the very humid tropical rainforest climate of Singapore, which made racing even harder for the professional cyclists. Barring any attacks in the final kilometers, everything now appeared set up for the much-anticipated mass sprint finish across the finish line.

While riders from the Astana team were leading the peloton at maximum speed in the final kilometers, riders from other teams were lurking behind them to improve the odds for their sprinters Biniam Girmay, Jasper Philipsen, and Arnaud De Lie.

Jasper Philipsen was first to launch his attack from the peloton, but Cavendish responded promptly. The Manx Missile accelerated and powered past Philipsen to take the race victory ahead of Philipsen and Arnaud De Lie. Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish won the final race of his professional cycling career under sunny skies in Singapore and was greeted by his wife Peta Todd after crossing the finish line.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better sendoff than here in Singapore,” a proud Cavendish told Roadcycling.com with tears in his eyes shortly after the finish. “What an incredible crowd, what an incredible race, what an incredible group of athletes to finish my career with. My wife and friends are here too, so it’s really brilliant. I’m so emotional and grateful and I hope everyone enjoyed it.”

“I’m terribly emotional at this moment. While racing I realized these five last laps will be the final laps of my career. I didn’t race since the Tour de France, so I’m missing that sharpness, but my team has done a great job at controlling the race, and delivered a grand lead-out for me,” Cavendish explained to Roadcycling.com. “I was nervous about crashing, because I really wanted to finish my last race. I could feel De Lie coming behind me and Jasper also. I’m so happy to win the Singapore Prudential Criterium as my final race.”

“I’ve always loved the Tour de France. It’s what children dream of and it’s what you pretend to do when you’re out training. Cycling is such a great sport and form of freedom. It’s a way to become who you want to be.”

“Cycling is a great pastime, and I’ll always do everything I can to help this move forward. That won’t stop, jut because I won’t be racing anymore. In fact, I might be able to be put even more energy into promoting cycling now. I’m really looking forward to what the rest of my career brings, just not on the bike,” Cavendish concluded with tears of joy in his eyes.

In addition to winning the World Championships, Cavendish has won thirty-five Tour de France stages, seventeen stages at the Giro d’Italia, and also proved victorious in three Vuelta a Espana stages. Sir Mark Cavendish is a beacon of hope to many and will certainly continue to inspire people to ride their bikes. 

In the words of wife Peta Todd, “If you cut Mark Cavendish, he bleeds Tour de France,” so there will definitely be a position ready for the retired Cavendish somewhere in professional road cycling. His significant experience and relentless persistence will be of great use for cycling teams in the years to come.

The whole team here at Roadcycling.com is wishing the great British legend great success and joy with his future endeavors within and beyond cycling.

Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium 2024 results:

1 Mark Cavendish (Astana) 01:24:45
2 Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) s.t.
3 Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) s.t.
4 Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) s.t.
5 Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) s.t.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for extensive race coverage from the 2025 professional road cycling season.