Mark Cavendish – Keynote Speaker

The ‘Manx Missile’ has consistently proven his title as the fastest man on two wheels through his glittering career, winning an incredible 23 Tour de France stages, 2011 UCI Road Race World Championships and 2005 & 2008 World Championships in the Madison on the track to date.

Having experienced success on the track Mark joined T-Mobile in 2006 as a stagier. During the 2008 season Mark made his first big impact on the Grand Tours, winning a fantastic two stages in the Giro d’Italia followed by four victories at the Tour de France, becoming the most successful British cyclist overnight at the age of 22.

At a new team in 2009, HTC Highroad, Mark continued his success on the road and developed a remarkable partnership with his lead-out man, Mark Renshaw. Cav added six Tour de France victories to his name and became the first Briton to hold the green jersey for two consecutive days.

Once again in 2010 Mark hit form for the Tour de France adding 5 stage wins to his tally, taking his career total to 15.

2011 was Mark’s most successful year to date with a range of incredible performances and achievements. The Manxman became the first ever British cyclist to win the Points Classification at the Tour de France winning the Green Jersey. Adding to this incredible achievement Mark became the UCI Road Race World Champion claiming the Rainbow Jersey, ending Britain’s 46 year wait.

Following such a successful year on the road he was rewarded an MBE on 30th November for “services to British cycling” at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Mark added the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year title with an outstanding 49% of the public vote to other awards including Jaguar’s Most Inspirational Sportsman of the Year and SJA Sportsman of the Year.

2012 held new challenges for Mark as he joined Team Sky. Taking on a different role in this year’s Tour de France the fastest man on two wheels was part of a team to win the Yellow Jersey. He still proved his ability to win stages taking his tally to 23 stage victories and became the first ever cyclist to win the final stage on the Champs Elysees four years in a succession.

With different set goals Mark and Team Sky decided to go their separate ways at the end of the 2012 season.

In 2015 he returned to the track part-time, hoping to represent Great Britain in the omnium at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As part of that return, with Bradley Wiggins, he won a third world championship title in the madison at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.