Mark Cavendish has hinted that he may delay his retirement once again to race in next year’s Tour de France.

That’s according to Cycling Weekly following comments made by the Manx superstar at last week’s route presentation for the 2025 edition of the Tour.

Cavendish was interviewed on stage and commented: ‘Like everyone who has ridden the Tour de France or the Tour de France Femmes, you finish it and you think: “I'll never do that again,” then a couple of days later, you miss and you long for the buzz the year after.’

The Manxman was also asked whether he liked the idea of claiming a record-extending 36th stage win at the age of 40, to which he vaguely replied: ‘Yeah, we’ll see.’

Speculations has been rife in recent days after the route presentation revealed that next year’s edition will be sprinter-friendly, particularly in the first half of the race which features a plethora of relatively flat stages.

ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH

After the TfF presentation in Paris, the Manx Missile sprinted to third place in the Saitama Criterium in Japan in what was potentially one of the last races of his glittering career.

The annual race, which features the crème de la crème from the Tour de France, was held in unseasonably wet conditions in the capital city of the Saitama prefecture, situated some 30 kilometres north of Tokyo.

Riders tackled 17 laps of a 3.6km course which included the peloton heading through Saitama Stadium which hosted football matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2020 Olympic Games.

Riding for Astana Qazaqstan, the Manx Missile finished third as Tour de France green jersey winner Biniam Girman (Intermarche-anty) took the win after solo escapee and runner-up Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Mansgrohe) was caught just before the finish line.

Another post-Tour de France criterium takes place in Singapore this coming Sunday which is pencilled in as Cav’s last professional race, although that may not now be the case.

Watch this space.