British cycling great Mark Cavendish has announced that he will retire at the end of the current season.
The Manx Missile, who celebrated his 38th birthday on Sunday, piled up 161 victories on the road to go with world titles on the track over the course of his illustrious career.
But it was the Tour de France where Cavendish wrote his name into the sport's history books by equalling Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stage victories, while his 53 Grand Tour stage victories put him third in the all-time standings.
Cavendish's career achievements also include an omnium silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2011 Road World Championships rainbow jersey, the 2009 Milano-San Remo one-day classic, 16 stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Vuelta a Espana.
“I've absolutely loved racing every kilometre of this race so far, so I feel it's the perfect time to say it's my final Giro d'Italia and 2023 will be my final season as a professional cyclist,” he said during a news conference organised by his Astana-Qazagstan team during's Monday's rest day at the Giro.
“Yesterday I celebrated my 38th birthday. Like many others I've been struggling with sickness during the race as well as the effects of some unfortunate crashes. To get me through, I can't thank this group of friends enough.
“Cycling has been my life for over 25 years. I've lived an absolute dream … I love the sport more than you can even imagine and I can't see myself going too far from it, that's for sure.
“It's taught me so much about life, dedication, loyalty, sacrifice and perseverance – all important things to pass on now as a father."
He added: “The bike's given me opportunities to see the world, meet incredible people who are involved and not involved in the sport – a lot of whom I call friends.
“Today it's my son Casper's fifth birthday; it's a rest day and I can spend that with them now. Now it's important to be there for every birthday, every school concert – important I can be there for them.”
Cavendish has suffered his fair share of bad luck, too, crashing heavily during a sprint finish in Harrogate when the Tour de France came to Britain in 2014 and subsequently being ruled out of the rest of the race.
He was also diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Virus in 2017, an infection that causes glandular fever.
Cavendish enjoyed a remarkable return to form in 2021, winning four stages of the Tour de France with the Deceuninck-QuickStep team to match Merckx's record, his first stage wins at the race since 2016.
The 2021 season was to end badly, though, as he punctured a lung and broke ribs after a crash at the Ghent Six Day track event.
He will have one final chance to claim the Tour de France record outright in July when he takes part in the race for the last time.
British Cycling's Performance Director Stephen Park said Cavendish was the sport's greatest sprinter.
“He will be remembered by fans across the world for his 53 Grand Tour stage wins, and I'm sure that we will all be cheering him on as he looks to add to that total in his final months of racing,” Park said.
“What most stands out in Cav as a sportsperson is the overwhelming sense of pride he showed each time he pulled on both the Britain Cycling Team and British national champion's jerseys.”
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
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Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
More about Middle East geopolitics
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
