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Mark Cavendish to be a dad… baby conceived during Tour de France says girlfriend, Peta Todd…

… So we've suggested a few fitting names...

The green jersey may not be the only permanent souvenir Mark Cavendish will have of this year’s Tour de France – it has been revealed that he and girlfriend Peta Todd are expecting their first child, and she believes it was conceived during July’s three-week race.

Glamour model Peta, who has been voted the fourth most popular Page Three girl of all time by readers of The Sun, told the newspaper: “I'm four months gone, which means it was conceived in July, during the Tour de France. It's a Tour baby."

Perhaps that’s wishful thinking – four months ago would after all take us back to June – but it does open up a wealth of naming opportunities should the couple follow the penchant among many celebrities for naming their offspring after places.

Just remember that if the nipper ends up being named Cap Fréhel, Chateauroux, Lavaur, Montpellier or Champs-Élysées – the locations of Cavendish’s five stage wins this year – you heard it here first.

The couple met 12 months ago at a function in Los Angeles and Peta is now house-hunting in her native county of Essex with the new world champion and soon-to-be Team Sky rider.

Peta, who already has a five-year-old son, Finnbarr, from an earlier relationship, 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," she continued.

With her pregnancy leading her to decide to bring her Page 3 career to an end, Peta will now focus on building her writing career.

"I'm going to be doing more writing for the paper and a couple of columns a week for The Sun's website," she explained.

"It's emotional to be leaving Page 3,” she added. “It's been my life since I was 18 and I'm so grateful for the chances it gave me.

"I think Page 3 is an institution which should be celebrated. I hope I helped change people's preconceptions about Page 3 girls by appearing on Newsnight and at the Oxford Union debate.

"But I also feel ready to move on and focus on new things," she concluded.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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stevengoodfellow | 12 years ago
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This could of course re-open the debate on whether or not it's good for athletes to have sex before important events (or technically in this case I suppoise it's during!). However,what sounds like much more fun is to speculate on exactly which stage the happy even ocurred. Perhaps the basis of a future competition, although a level of support from the happy couple would be required to come up with a winner!
Congratulations to Peta and Mark, hope all goes well.

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Simon_MacMichael | 12 years ago
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Some great comments there. Keep 'em, um, coming...  4

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Rick Robson | 12 years ago
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I wonder which victory salute he did? Just hope Renshaw wasn't involved in the lead out...

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CyclistAtLarge | 12 years ago
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Maybe if he promised to name the baby HTC-Highroad, the team would stay together.

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Cooks | 12 years ago
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Finbarr? FINBARR? nyuk nyuk.....
Anyway, they should call the baby Thor.

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fluffchucker replied to Cooks | 12 years ago
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Cooks wrote:

Finbarr? FINBARR? nyuk nyuk....

What's a Finbarr ???  7

Is that anything like a FUBAR

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xcstu | 12 years ago
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Pro cycle fitness!! I don't think anyone would have trouble getting it up with his misses haha  4

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pedalingparamedic | 12 years ago
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The night before he missed the time cut and lost 20pts to Rojas maybe....?!

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WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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Blimey. That's pro cyclists fitness for you. I can't get up the stairs after a single long ride - let alone do anything else.

Living in a mansion in Essex? If those nasty footballers come around to ask you to play out with them - just say 'no' Cav...

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robert_obrien replied to WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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As the late Clement Freud said in old age 'Nowadays, if a woman suggests we "go upstairs and make love" I say 'One or the other"'.

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