he is a double madison world champion and commonwealth games gold medallist on the track. as a road cyclist, he has risen to fame as a sprinter. he got eleven wins in his first professional season, equalling the record held by alessandro petacchi. in the 2008 tour de france he won four stages, a then unprecedented achievement for a british cyclist (he surpassed the feat, winning six stages in 2009 and a further 5 in 2010) and he has been described as the fastest sprinter in the world. he continued his wins in 2009 by taking the spring classic, milan – san remo. cavendish started racing informally at 12, as a mountain-bike rider.