While Cavendish left the 2013 Tour de France with two stage wins, Kittel claimed four – including the final stage on the Champs-Elysees to end Cavendish’s streak of four consecutive wins in Paris. 

And Kittel has continued to grow in stature, earning four more stage wins in 2014 after Cavendish crashed out on the opening stage, before beating the Manxman twice more at the Tour of Britain.

Even in 2015, with Kittel suffering an illness-ravaged season, Cavendish hasn’t been able to reclaim his crown as the world’s best sprinter – this time a resurgent Andre Greipel won four Tour stages to Cav’s one.

Having been untouchable in a bunch sprint during the first half of his career, Cavendish’s sprinting dominance seems to be at an end with the emergence of Kittel and resurgence of Greipel, while Fernando Gaviria, who beat Cavendish twice at the 2015 Tour de San Luis and will now become Etixx-QuickStep’s chief sprinter, among the next generation looking to break through.

Cavendish three years with QuickStep have, ironically, delivered the same number of Tour de France stage wins (three) as he managed in his one season at Team Sky. But while he may not have been as prolific in recent years, Cavendish’s stage win in this year’s Tour de France took him to 26 in total, putting him third on the all-time list behind only Bernard Hinault (28) and Eddy Merckx (34).