Bathurst's Mark Renshaw named in Cycling Weekly's Tour de France dream team of decade

The renowned support rider earned the 'lead out' role on the team alongside the man he assisted for years, Mark Cavendish, who was named as the squad's sprinter.

The elite team also contains four-time tour winner Chris Froome (general classification), Vincenzo Nibali (back up leader), Tony Martin (time trial), Tommy Voeckler (breakaway rider), Peter Sagan (all rounder) and Luke Rowe (team captain).

Renshaw had recently been named as part of Cycling Australia's team of the decade and was happy to learn he'd earned another publication's accolade.

"This team's the best of the best so I'm honoured to be named in the lead out role, a role which I committed to for a long time," he said.

"We had a few golden years there and I was lucky I worked with someone like Cavendish because I could have worked for a sprinter who wasn't as successful and that wouldn't have boosted my stocks in the cycling game.

"This team's got some of the best riders we've had over the years. I've been lucky enough that I've trained with Froome and I've been teammates with others.

"Being a part of the team you get to know them all more as a person than as a rider. That adds to the enjoyment of being named alongside them."

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The write up of Renshaw's efforts from Cycling Weekly was glowing, referring to the Bathurst rider as a 'legend' of his role.

Renshaw first linked up with Cavendish at Columbia-HTC in 2009 at Columbia-HTC and would enjoy years of success as a duo.

Renshaw would make a direct contribution to 19 of the Manx man's 30 Tour de France stage wins.

The greatest of those came in the final stage of the 2009 tour where Renshaw's lead out for Cavendish was so strong the Bathurst man could still ride across the line in second.

Renshaw said the sensation of that winning moment in Paris will forever stay with him.

"The second on the Champs-Élysées was one of the biggest moments for me. You can't get a better result than that," he said.

"A first and a second on the last stage is amazing. They call it the world championship for sprinters.

"I had a second on a stage in Brussels, I was very close to winning there. I had a second in a team time trial. I was close to winning a Tour de France stage but it never happened. I'm just happy to look back on the results I had."'

Renshaw announced his retirement from professional cycling in July.