The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is a highly esteemed prize, eagerly anticipated by the British viewing public. It is considered an honor just to make the list. It looks as though Cav has a real shot at it this year.
Mark Cavendish finally realised his dreams in 2011 when he became Britain’s first winner of the Tour de France green jersey – the award for the race’s best sprinter.
Manxman Cavendish, who has now won 20 stages of the race in his career – putting him sixth on the all-time list, crowned his victory by winning a frenetic sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees.
Cavendish’s stage win in Paris followed similar successes there in 2009 and 2010, making him the first man to have won three final stages in succession since the legendary Belgian Eddy Merckx in 1972.
The 26-year-old also achieved another stunning landmark in 2011, as he became Britain’s first male world road race champion for 46 years.
The eight-strong GB team ignored all breakaways to control the peloton over the 266km course before delivering Cavendish to the line in style in Denmark.
The only other British cyclist to win the road world title, Tommy Simpson, won Sports Personality the same year – 1965.
