Sir Mark Cavendish claims RECORD 35th stage victory at Tour de France – as sensational sprint finish sees Brit go past the legendary Eddy Merckx
Mark Cavendish has broken the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France by taking his 35th victory in the iconic event on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old, who was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours last month, won the fifth stage in dramatic fashion with a sensational sprint finish in Saint Vulbas.
Cavendish came off the wheel of Fabio Jakobsen in the final and had the strength to hold off Jasper Philipsen
As he crossed the finish line victorious, Cavendish raised his arms and was embraced by his team, Astana Qazaqstan, while his wife Peta and their children also celebrated wildly.
With his 35th stage win, Cavendish passed the legendary Eddy Merckx. The Briton has been level with him since his 34th stage win in 2021.
Mark Cavendish broke the record for stage wins at the Tour de France by taking his 35th victory in the iconic event on Wednesday
After his memorable triumph, Cavendish said: ‘I can’t believe it. Astana have taken a big risk this year to make sure we do well here at the Tour, my boss has done that.
‘It’s a big gamble to come here and try to win at least one stage, a big gamble for my boss Alexander Vinokourov, a big step, it shows that he is a former cyclist, someone who knows what the Tour de France is about.
“You have to go all out and we did that and did it exactly the way we wanted to. We put the team together, the equipment, every little detail was worked on today.”
The British rider narrowly missed out on a historic 35th Tour victory last year when he finished second in stage seven, but the next day he broke his collarbone in a crash and was forced to withdraw from the rest of the race.
Cavendish had planned to retire at the end of last season, but in October last year he made the switch and decided to race the Tour one more time this summer.
Cavendish’s Astana-Qazaqstan led the peloton for much of the final 30 kilometres of the 177km stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, but in the finale the Manx rider drew on his years of experience as a road cyclist before leaving his rivals behind.
He left his lead-out man Michael Morkov behind and moved behind Philipsen and then Jakobsen, before finding space on the left side of the road and pulling away.
His victory comes just four days after Cavendish struggled in the heat of the gruelling opening stage after Florence, vomiting on his bike in worrying scenes, and two days after he missed the chance to compete in the third stage after being caught in a crash in the closing stages of the race in Turin.
Cavendish’s four stage wins in 2021 are regarded as one of the greatest comeback stories in sport. They are his first Tour victories in five years, following a period of illness and injury that contributed to a diagnosis of depression.
Even after those victories three years ago, Cavendish has endured more difficulties. Only after a failed attempt did he sign a last-minute deal with Astana-Qazaqstan for the 2023 season. Last year’s Tour ended abruptly on stage eight.
Cavendish became the most successful male sprinter in cycling history last month when he won the second stage of the Tour of Hungary, his 164th career victory.
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