Sports Personality of the Year 2024: Sir Mark Cavendish wins Lifetime Achievement award
Cavendish’s journey has not been an easy one.
He showed promise as a BMX and mountain bike rider early in his career, later becoming a member of the British Cycling team and dominating track and field at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
He started his professional career in 2005 with T-Mobile’s regional team and won his first Tour stage in 2008 with Team Colombia.
But he has been plagued by injuries, illness and depression since 2017, and the Briton feared his career could be over when he failed to win races in 2019 and 2020.
In his second season with the Belgian Quick Step team in 2021, a remarkable turnaround resulted in four Tour stage wins and the overall green jersey.
Another tumultuous year followed in 2021, when Cavendish and his family were violently robbed at their home.
He failed to qualify for the 2022 Tour de France, putting his future in cycling in doubt again before Astana-Kazakhstan made a last-minute push in 2023.
They finished 14th in the Tour with Cavendish in what was supposed to be his last race, but a horrific car crash that broke his collarbone and ended the race abruptly left him determined not to let this be his last. farewell.
So earlier this year at St. Verbas, he crossed the line in iconic fashion, breaking the long-standing record set by Belgian great Eddy Merckx.
A month later, the Isle of Man’s victory over Singapore in November fittingly ended his career He was knighted.
Cavendish was named the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Lifetime Achievement Awards presented to Liverpool, Celtic and Scottish football legends in 2023 Sir Kenny Dalglish.
