Sir Mark Cavendish praises Prince William after knighthood nerves

Cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish has praised “superb” Prince William after receiving a knighthood from the royal in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Sir Mark, 39, admitted he was “really nervous” before receiving the honour but said the Prince of Wales put him at ease and chatted to him about his career.

Asked about his future in the sport, Sir Mark said he still has some races this year.

“I’m still training for them,” he said: “It will be really nice to race as a Knight Commander.”

Sir Mark finished this season with a record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage win in what he said would “likely” be his last race.

Having since given mixed messages about whether he would race again, Sir Mark repeated that he would not take part in the Tour de France – which, despite his record-breaking number of stage wins, he has never won overall.

He said: “That’s public knowledge, I won’t do another Tour de France.”

On receiving his knighthood, Sir Mark said he spoke to Prince William about cycling, which he described as “very nice”.

“I think the last time we met was at the Tour de France in Yorkshire and I crashed at the end of that stage,” he said.

“He asked me if I was doing anything else up there, and he was talking about my career.”

The cyclist said the experience of receiving the knighthood was “humbling” and added he was “incredibly proud of representing the country”.

He continued: “It’s wonderful. You know, I’m just a lad from the Isle of Man, to be a Knight Commander, that’s not something I could ever have dreamed of.”

Speaking about his children, he added: “One of the boys thinks I’m going to be walking about in armour. They’re very proud.”

Sir Mark has, to date, registered 165 career victories on the road, including the 2011 world title, stages of all three Grand Tours, and Milan-Sanremo in 2009.

He also won a silver medal in the omnium at the 2016 Olympics.

“I am very fortunate to have got to do what I love for so many years, and to see other people inspired by that and riding bikes themselves,” Sir Mark added.

“Seeing how many people ride bikes now, seeing the growth of cycling in this country now and seeing how successful we’ve become at it… it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of that and to know that it’s something you can be honoured for.”

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Other sports stars who also received honours at Windsor Castle included: former England Lioness Karen Carney, former international rugby referee Wayne Barnes and former Scotland footballer and pundit Ally McCoist – who were all made OBEs by Prince William.

Welsh football referee Cheryl Foster was also made an MBE.