In June 2024, Cavendish was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2024 Birthday Honours for "services to cycling and charity work.

Coaches Rod Ellingworth, John Herety and Simon Lillistone lobbied British Cycling Performance Director Peter Keen to include him because of his potential.

They had not raced together before as Hayles' usual partner, Geraint Thomas, had crashed during training a few weeks earlier[21]—but finished one lap ahead of the field to claim the gold medal, followed by the Dutch and Belgian teams, Cavendish's first world title.

Cavendish was brought in to partner Bradley Wiggins in the madison, as Hayles failed a routine blood test, and was subsequently banned.

[46] At the Tour de Romandie, he won the opening time trial, beating compatriot Wiggins and emphasising his short-distance time-trial abilities.

[50] He was a surprise inclusion on the British squad for the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, where he competed in the scratch race and the madison, failing to pick up medals in either.

[112] In December, Cavendish won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award with 169,152 (49.47%) of the votes cast, ahead of Mo Farah and Darren Clarke.

The following day, he was again in contention for victory on stage three, but in the sprint, Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela's Roberto Ferrari aggressively switched lanes, clipping Cavendish and sending him to the ground, causing other riders to fall including overall leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team).

[132][133] Cavendish's main target for the season was the road race at the Olympics, which was held six days after the final stage of the Tour de France.

The team were forced to set the pace for the majority of the race, with few nations offering any support, and on the final climb of the Box Hill circuit, a large breakaway group of over thirty riders formed.

Despite the best efforts of Stannard, Wiggins, Millar, Froome and Sky teammate Bernhard Eisel, the breakaway could not be brought back leaving Cavendish to finish twenty-ninth, forty seconds behind the winner, Alexander Vinokurov of Kazakhstan.

[141] In April he finished in second place to defending champion Marcel Kittel of Argos–Shimano at the Scheldeprijs; he faded in the final kilometre, but recovered to launch his sprint from around twenty riders back with 200 m (220 yd) remaining.

He overtook David Millar on the home straight and held off a challenge by Ian Stannard, who recovered from a puncture in the penultimate lap to claim silver.

Finishing second in the scratch race and third in the madison with Owain Doull, Cavendish had not ruled out the prospect of competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro having earned enough points to qualify for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics.

He repeated the win three days later to take stage seven—again out-sprinting Italy's Elia Viviani to the finish on Guildford High Street.

[156] In the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France, which started in Yorkshire, England, from Leeds to Harrogate, Cavendish crashed out during a collision he caused in the final few seconds of the sprint finish.

[167] He then participated in the Tirreno–Adriatico, where he was involved in a large crash on stage two due to Elia Viviani clipping his back wheel and causing his chain to drop.

[169] Cavendish then participated in the Tour of California, showing good form by winning four stages and the points classification ahead of overall winner Sagan.

[171] At the Tour de France, Cavendish won stage seven by taking André Greipel's wheel before passing him in a sprint finish in Fougères.

[173] On 16 August, Cavendish returned to the track, winning the madison with Bradley Wiggins in the first round of the Revolution cycling series at the newly opened Derby Velodrome.

[183] Cavendish won stage three in a photo finish with André Greipel in Angers, taking his twenty-eighth win and equalling Bernard Hinault's tally.

[212] He was not selected for the Tour de France because of strained relations with Team Dimension Data principal and owner Douglas Ryder[213] and other health issues since 2017.

[236][237][238][239] In June he took another win in the fifth and final stage of the Tour of Belgium, triumphing over a field which included such names as Caleb Ewan, Tim Merlier, Pascal Ackermann, Dylan Groenewegen and Nacer Bouhanni.

[267] In October of that year, he announced he had reconsidered his decision to retire, and would stay with Astana for the following season, in the hope of breaking the Tour de France stage win record in 2024.

[277] At the 2009 Tour de France, the points he gained in the intermediate sprint in stage fourteen were removed after he was judged to have driven Thor Hushovd too close to barriers on the course.

[281] Another instance of dubious safety concerns while riding was witnessed on the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France as Cavendish caused Simon Gerrans to crash while trying to push him out of the way during the sprint.

[291][292] Their house in Essex was robbed at knifepoint in November 2021,[293][294] and two men were jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court in February 2023 for their involvement in the robbery.

[305] In December 2024, the Isle of Man Office published a collection of stamps honoring Sir Mark Cavendish KBE – The Manx Missile.

[306] The collection a sheetlet, which is an amalgamation of three previous stamp issues featuring the cyclist, showcases images capturing key moments throughout the years.

They include representing the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games, being part of Great Britain's Olympic team, and competing in the Tour de France.