Mark Cavendish is one of, if not the greatest sprinter in cycling history. A stage win at this year's Tour de France saw him claim the outright stage win record from Eddy Merckx, taking his total to 35. An incredible achievement which represents nearly two decades at the top of the road cycling sprint tree.
This summer, it was reported that 2024 would be Mark Cavendish's final Tour de France after the completion of 'Project 35'. After months of speculation about whether he actually would retire, the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium was the Manxman's final race.
Unsurprisingly, he won the processional race, but what is surprising is that for a man who's ridden his fair share of custom-painted bikes in his time, the final race didn't get a new commemorative design. Instead, raced aboard the same Wilier Filante that was unveiled at the 2024 Tour de France.
That final race brought the curtain down on a career that began in 2006 when at just 21 years of age, he joined T-Mobile as a stagiaire and entered the then Pro Tour.
With a career spanning such a period and having spent time at so many different teams, Cavendish has a lot of experience with various bikes, and he's rarely shied away from expressing his opinions about his equipment. He's ridden aboard bikes from Giant, Scott, Specialized, Pinarello, Cervelo, BMC, Merida and Wilier Triestina.
Like our ode to Peter Sagan's bikes to mark the Slovak's retirement, we've pulled together a selection of Cavendish's race bikes from various points in his career.
What was Mark Cavendish's bike for 2024?
In 2024, Mark Cavendish raced on a Wilier bike that came courtesy of Astana Qazaqstan's bike sponsor, Italian brand Wilier Triestina. He raced the Wilier Filante SLR aero model pretty much exclusively, and the Italian brand has provided some custom-painted models for him, which we will get to. Wilier also released the more weight-focused Verticale SLR this year which some of the Astana squad used.
Equipment-wise, Cavendish used the same componentry as his teammates for the most part. The Filante SLR is fitted with a Vision Metron 5D Evo handlebar and integrated stem, whilst the seatpost is frame-specific.
Shimano Dura-Ace 12-speed Di2 groupsets are used by the team. Interestingly, Astana raced on Corima Tubular wheels for a time, but later added Vision wheelsets to their option list and Cavendish primarily used Vision's Metron SL60 wheels. He tended to pair these with Vittoria Corsa Pro 28mm tyres.
Cavendish has also been known to use different brand wheels and or hub and rim combinations throughout his career on the road and track which we look at in more detail below.
What size is Mark Cavendish's bike
According to Cavendish's website, he's 175cm tall, this would generally (brand depending) put him in 54cm or 52cm bike size territory.
Pro riders generally size down to ride a smaller, stiffer feeling frame. In 2011 when aboard the Specialized Venge at Omega Pharma-QuickStep, Cavendish rode a minuscule 49cm. That's more like the size you'd expect Caleb Ewan's bike to be.
Cavendish's bikes have often featured lengthy handlebar stems and we assume he would prioritise a low, long and aero position and reach. Cyclingnews understands he prefers a slightly wider handlebar, to aid leverage when sprinting.
Mark Cavendish's Wilier Filante SLR: Specifications
Mark Cavendish has carefully selected his races in 2024, a year focused on his major goal of riding the Tour de France.
In some of the races he rode in the run-up to the Tour, Cavendish was riding a custom-painted bike that was different to the rest of his teammates' already very nice bikes. A star rider like Cavendish, at this point in his career, gets looked after with custom-painted machines, something only the sport's very top riders or National Champions enjoy.
We've featured that bike here as the Manx rider's 2024 race bike and moved on to his rainbow custom-painted Tour race bike further below. Cavendish raced on both during the Tour de France this year.
The bike features the same spec Cavendish has been running but instead features a white, black and gold colour scheme.
Wilier Filante custom bike check
History
Mark Cavendish began his career as a professional rider back in 2006 when he joined the T-Mobile squad after completing a period riding for them as a stagiaire. In these early days, Cavendish rode in the service of stars like Andreas Kloden and under DS Brian Holm.
Cavendish has ridden for a total of seven teams during his 19-year career. We have counted his spells at Quick-Step as one team overall and his four years at Team Colombia / HTC. He also returned to Deceuninck-Quick Step in 2021 after five years away from the team.
Cavendish also spent 2012, a single year with Team Sky, a team many thought would be a natural fit for Cavendish. The team's grand tour ambitions didn't fit Cavendish's needs particularly, and the Manxman left after a year. He helped create history in the year he was there though. 2012 was possibly the most important year in British cycling history to date for various reasons.
Cavendish has ridden on eight bike brands during his career. Interestingly he has spent the most years riding a Specialized bike. Spending six years in total riding Specialized machines.
At a glance
Mark Cavendish's TDF Record breaking Wilier Filante SLR
Wilier and Cavendish announced this custom-painted bike just before the 2024 Tour de France. The inspiration for the bright rainbow colour was apparently taken from a painting Cavendish spotted during a visit to the Wilier factory. The rainbow and green colours are said to represent some key moments in his career like his world road race title and Tour de France green jersey wins.
Aside from the paint, the bike was pretty stock and essentially the same as Cavendish's teammates. However, he and his team appeared to pull out all of the stops in terms of optimisation in their quest for all-out speed on the way to winning that elusive 35th stage. This included using £1000 aero socks, aero bottles, swapping wheels mid-stage and even wearing BOA dial aero covers.
Read about the Project 35 aero optimisations here.
Mark Cavendish's 2023 Wilier race bike
The Astana race bikes have been through a few changes since Cavendish joined, how much of that has come as a result of the Briton's influence remains to be seen.
These pictures are from a team camp in early 2023 when Cavendish was the reigning British road race champion.
The key differences here are the stock Wilier one-piece bar and stem instead of the Vision Metron handlebar is being used. Wheels are tyres are also different here, the team switched from Corima tubular wheels and Vittoria tubular tyres to Vision Metron SL clinchers later on in 2023.
Finally, the Dura-Ace rear derailleurs were fitted with oversized pulley wheels from the USA-based company, SLF-Motion. We haven't seen those fitted this year either.
Mark Cavendish's 2021 Specialized Tarmac SL7
Next, we move back to 2021. Cavendish had returned to Deceuninck-QuickStep after a poor year at Bahrain McLaren. He delighted and shocked the cycling world that summer by taking another four stages and the green points jersey at the Tour de France.
The S-Works Tarmac SL7 was Cavendish's race weapon in 2021, the SL8 was to launch later, ahead of the Glasgow world championships in 2023.
A Deceuninck-QuickStep Specialized Tarmac is somehow a very familiar sight now. Cavendish was riding an SL7 frame with Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Roval Rapide wheels shod with S-Works Turbo tyres.
A standout is the use of a separate handlebar and stem arrangement with a 5mm spacer on top, not an integrated handlebar. The Roval Rapide cockpit wasn't available yet.
Once in green, there were a few understated splashes of colour like bar tape, bottle cages and a green computer case, but otherwise, Cavendish kept things low-key.
Mark Cavendish's 2018 Cervelo S5
Mark Cavendish was racing for Dimension Data in 2018 aboard a Cervelo S5 bike. The team raced on some very eye-catching bikes for a couple of years.
It may be true that WorldTour race bikes feel a little soulless these days, but Cavendish's 2018 race bike had plenty of interesting parts to look at. We also snapped this bike at the Tour de France and Cavendish spoke about his regular positional adjustments to find comfort.
"Your body changes from day to day, you know? Your body is shorter in the evening than it is in the morning," he explained. "It's nothing in particular that I change. It might just be a habit."
Wheels were Enve tubulars built around Chris King R45 hubs. Groupsets were also an interesting mix, Dura Ace 9100 Di2 with Rotor power meter chainsets and black and green KMC SL chains.
Cavendish's custom-painted Cervelo S5
Mark Cavendish's 2018 Cervelo S5
Five years before Mad's Pederson's Trek Madone caused a stir, Cavendish did it with his very eye-catching 2018 race bike.
This special custom-painted Cervelo S5 was painted by Silverstone Paint Technologies and used special superlight paint that even showed the carbon fibre weave in places. It must have looked fantastic in real life.
The build itself was similar to the year after bar a slightly older Shimano SRM power meter instead of a Rotor unit.
The Dura-Ace rim brakes, Enve bar and stem and wheels were all present. Interestingly Cavendish ran Di2 sprinter buttons on his handlebar drops in a vertical orientation so he could operate them like trigger buttons, rather than having them on the inside of the handlebar drop.
Mark Cavendish's 2013 Specialized Venge
In 2013, Cavendish was riding for Omega Pharma-QuickStep and was issued with yet another special bike at that year's Giro d'Italia to commemorate his 100th career win.
Cavendish was on Specialized bikes at this point in his career and was issued with a special custom black and green Specialized S-Works Venge that he had a hand in designing.
The overall build on this bike makes for pretty much an all-American selection of brands. A SRAM Red groupset, Zipp 808 wheels and Zipp finishing kit were all used.
The aggressive and popular-to-this-day Zipp SL Sprint stem can be seen here, as can familiar CVNDSH branding which has long been featured on Cavendish equipment and merchandise.
Specialized S-Works Venge bike check
Mark Cavendish's 2011 Specialized Mclaren Venge
At the start of the last decade, McLaren helped engineer the Specialized Venge aero bike which probably played a key part in welcoming a new era of aero bikes.
This bike weighed in at a claimed 7.65kg which at the time would have been considered pretty heavy for a pro race bike.
It featured a Dura-Ace groupset, with SPD-SL pedals fitted with longer axles to widen Cavendish's Q-Factor.
The Fizik Arione saddle was present, as was a custom Cavendish bar and stem combo. Interestingly Cavendish used a custom wheelset, featuring Dura-Ace hubs and Zipp rims.
Specialized Mclaren Venge bike check
Mark Cavendish's 2010 Scott Addict
Cavendish was arguably at his very fastest when riding on Scott Addict bikes and he enjoyed some very successful years in the black, white and yellow of Team HTC-Colombia.
The Scott Addict was always a very light bike and its silhouette has changed dramatically over the years. We photographed this 2010 race bike before Cavendish was due to ride the Tour of Flanders that year.
Some familiar staples are there again, the Fizik Arione saddle is present as is the Dura-Ace groupset. The team raced on a variety of wheels at the time and could choose from a few options but the bike was fitted with tubular HED wheels here, fitted with the legendary Continental Competition tubular tyres.
Scott Addict Flanders bike check
Mark Cavendish's 2009 Scott Addict
Mark Cavendish's 2009 Tour de France Scott Addict was a bit of a head turner. Scott custom painted the machine in a homage to an old-school bomber plane. With an old-style pinup on the head tube and 'kills' or wins on the frame as well.
Cavendish won the 21st stage of the Tour de France on this bike, it's one of his most impressive wins, go and watch it if you haven't seen it. He leaves the world's best sprinters in his dust.
This bike featured a mechanical Dura-Ace 7900 groupset, Pro finishing kit and Fizik Arione saddle again. The wheels here are a Zipp combo and Cavendish used a slightly deeper rear wheel at times.
Mark Cavendish's 2008 Giant TCR Advanced SL
And finally - at least in this gallery - a Giant TCR from his 2008 season at Team HighRoad. The team subsequently changed its name to Columbia later on in the season.
Like the current model, the TCR seen here has an integrated seat mast that needed to be cut to size. There are also some components that Cavendish would use for much of his career, a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and wheels, and Pro components.
The tyres are 22mm tubulars here, and the SRM power meter chainset is still wired, how times change...
