Mark Cavendish took two of his biggest ambitions this season, securing the green jersey in the Tour de France and taking the rainbow jersey in the world championships, and now has an additional reason to celebrate. He and his partner Peta Todd have confirmed today that they are expected their first child, due in five months time.
Cavendish’s confirmation was via Twitter, and was short and to the point. “I'm happy to announce, beyond doubt, my proudest moment of this year.... @petatodd is pregnant. I'm going to be a daddy.”
Todd gave more details, speaking in an interview with Britain’s Sun newspaper. “We planned it. I'm four months gone, which means it was conceived in July, during the Tour de France. It's a Tour baby,” she said.
“We haven't found out the sex yet but we will. I think it's a boy because I've already had a boy, but Mark thinks it's a girl. Athletes often conceive girls during the racing season as their testosterone levels are low.”
The 24 year old has a five year old son from a previous relationship. She has worked as a page 3 model but has decided to retire from that, saying that she will instead write columns for the paper. “I feel ready to move on and focus on new things,” she said.
Cavendish recently completed multi-million pound negotiations with the British Sky team. He has raced with the HTC Highroad setup for several seasons and hopes to have the same success with his new squad. He had his first tryout this year with some of those who will be his team-mates in 2012 during the world road race championships in Copenhagen, where they controlled the race and set him up for his biggest win.