Mark Cavendish cements legendary status as cycling's most successful sprinter at the Tour de France

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) rode into the historical past books on stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France, claiming a record-breaking thirty fifth stage win on the French Grand Tour.

Cavendish crashed out of the Tour final 12 months, breaking his collarbone, however he opted to lengthen his profession for one more 12 months.

Beforehand tied with Eddy Merckx on 34 stage wins on the Tour de France, Cavendish’s first stage victory on the Tour got here in 2008 in Chateauroux, racing for Group Columbia. In that dash, he crossed the road forward of Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel. 

He took one other three levels that July, lastly reaching a complete of 34 Tour de France stage wins in 2021. A two-year hole then adopted earlier than the 39-year-old may add the record-breaking complete of 35 in 2024, the place he beat Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who took second place, whereas Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) completed third in Saint Vulbas.

Cavendish mentioned after the stage victory, “I am a bit bit disbelief. Astana put an enormous gamble on this 12 months to ensure we’re good on the Tour de France. My boss has finished it. Large gamble making an attempt to come back in and win not less than one stage. It is a large gamble for my boss, Alexander Vinokourov.

“It exhibits the subsequent bike riders what the Tour de France is, know it’s a must to go all in. We have finished it. We labored precisely how we wished – how we constructed the crew, what we have finished with the tools, each element has been put particularly towards at this time.

“You see what it means – we’re not going to be prime of the UCI rankings or something but it surely exhibits how large the Tour de France is.”

Cavendish has claimed three victories this season, the primary within the ColombiaTour, and and went on to take a stage within the Tour of Hungary in Might. His final race was the Tour de Suisse the place there have been just about no alternatives for the sprinters.

The Briton now has 55 Grand Tour stage wins in his palmares, and one other six alternatives are potential on this 12 months’s Tour, beginning with stage 6 on Thursday.

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