tour de france winners mark cavendish

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Cavendish breaks long-held record for most Tour de France stage wins

• Associated Press

SAINT-VULBAS, France -- Mark Cavendish wrote a new chapter of Tour de France history in what is expected to be his last appearance at cycling's biggest race.

The veteran Isle of Man sprinter broke Eddy Merckx's long-standing record for most career Tour de France stage wins with his 35th victory on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old Cavendish sprinted for the win in the fifth stage of the Tour, pulling away some 100 meters from the line despite being bunched in. He crossed the line ahead of Jasper Philipsen and then jumped into the arms of a teammate.

Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar retained the race leader's yellow jersey, but the day belonged to Cavendish.

He equaled Merckx's mark of 34 wins during the 2021 Tour and went close to No. 35 in the seventh stage last year when he was narrowly beaten to the line by Philipsen. He then crashed a day later and broke his right collarbone.

Merckx, the Belgian considered the most dominant rider in cycling history, won his 34 individual stages at the Tour from 1969-75.

With his 2023 race ending early, Cavendish decided to put off retirement by a year and came back to try again. His decision to give it one more shot paid off.

"I just wanted to get the run-in to do it. I'm a little bit in disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we're good at the Tour de France," Cavendish said. "We've done it."

Finally, Cavendish made cycling history -- 16 years after winning his first Tour stage back in 2008.

Other riders were happy for Cavendish, with several stopping to speak with or hug him after the 177.4-kilometer (110-mile) leg from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas.

Merckx amassed his wins in the 1960s and 70s, an era during which his domination was such that he earned the nickname "The Cannibal." Unlike Merckx, who won a record five Tours, Cavendish, who specializes in the sprints, has never won the overall title.

But Cavendish's speed, prowess and longevity among his fellow sprinters have no equal at the Tour.

Cavendish won the Tour de France best sprinter's green jersey twice. He also has won stages at all three Grand Tours -- Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Spanish Vuelta -- and became a world champion in 2011.

Cavendish joined Astana after his contract with Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl expired and he was overlooked for the 2022 edition of the Tour.

Cavendish had faced a difficult opening three stages of the Tour. During the first stage, he appeared to struggle with stomach and heat issues.

But that hadn't damaged his confidence.

"I know how it works, my trainer and everyone around me knows how it is. If everybody knew how it was, everyone would be a bike rider and my job would be a lot harder," Cavendish said Wednesday. "I've done 15 Tours de France. I don't like to have bad days, I don't like to suffer but I know it's just in the head and to push through it."

Tour de France Stage 5: Mark Cavendish Takes Record-Breaking 35th Win

Defying the odds, the Manx Missile becomes the most successful stage winner in Tour de France history.

Stage winner: Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) Race leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Mark Cavendish has more Tour de France stage wins than any other man in history.

Nearly a year to the day after he abandoned what was supposed to be his final Tour de France, nearly a year and two days from the moment that almost was, the Manx Missile did exactly what he set out to do, exactly what his team was built to do. He won a sprint stage in the Tour de France, the thirty-fifth of his career.

And it wasn’t particularly close.

“I’m in disbelief. We’ve done it,” Cavendish said after the race.

Soon after, the week’s other history maker , Biniam Girmay, interrupted the interview to wrap Cavendish in a big hug.

“The team took a gamble,” he added, commenting on his choice to return to racing for another shot at the record. “How we built the team, the equipment, every little detail has been put toward today.”

In breaking the record, thirty-nine-year-old Cavendish became the second-oldest rider ever to win a Tour de France stage. Pino Cerami won 1963’s ninth stage at forty-one years old.

After a brutal first week that featured a first day with 12,000 meters of climbing and a proper mountain stage that included the Col du Galibier, Wednesday provided a bit of respite for everyone, viewers included.

The second flat stage of this year’s Tour de France, Stage 5, stretched over 177.4 kilometers. From the start in Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to the finish in Saint-Vulbas, the stage sloped gently downward, losing a total of 282 meters of elevation from beginning to end. However, the day did include a pair of category 4 climbs: the 1.5-kilometer, 4.3% Côte du Cheval Blanc, and the 3-kilometer, 4.8-percent Côte de Lhuis, neither of which made this anything but a sprint stage.

Nonetheless, Groupama-FDJ’s Clément Russo and TotalEnergies’ Mattéo Vercher spent most of the day off the front, hovering around two and a half minutes clear of the peloton in a breakaway that kicked off in mile nineteen.

Current yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar had a close call with just under thirty-seven miles to go, as he narrowly avoided crashing directly into a median. However, his evasive move caused a small pile-up behind him, taking down a few Movistar riders, a Lott-Dstny man, and Bahrain Victorious’ Pello Bilbao. Luckily, no one appeared to suffer any race-altering injuries.

A few miles later, just after the peloton crossed the line for the day’s intermediate sprint, a light rain started to fall, the slick roads caused teams to get a bit more anxious and eager than they normally might during the initial setup of their leadout trains.

As the rain fell, however, the area around the finish line remained dry.

Shortly after the day’s second climb started, Russo and Vercher were swallowed up by the peloton.

A few kilometers later, another median resulted in another crash. Like the first, this one was small, only collecting Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christophe Laporte, who quickly rode off without incident and got back on the peloton a few moments later.

The final few kilometers of the day took a pair of hard right-hand turns, all inside the ever-shifting time barrier (today, it was moved to the 4km mark rather than 3km), after which everyone is awarded the same time. The peloton crossed under the 4k-to-go banner at a blazing forty-two miles per hour.

Jasper Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck team charged first, with one mile to go. Still, Mark Cavendish’s Astana Qazaqstan squad quickly snuffed out their move, who played the final ten kilometers to absolute perfection. However, Astana’s train was forced to break up a bit as the final meters ticked down, and Cavendish appeared stuck in the middle. However, thirty-four stage wins will teach you how to muscle your way out of a sticky situation and how to freelance, which Cav has been doing better than anyone for years.

With just a bit of daylight, Cavendish left Philipsen’s wheel, charged to the front, took a lead he wouldn’t relinquish, and crossed the line with both hands raised in an image that will live in cycling history forever.

Michael Venutolo-Mantovani is a writer and musician based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He loves road and track cycling, likes gravel riding, and can often be found trying to avoid crashing his mountain bike. 

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Mark Cavendish claims record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage win

SAINT-VULBAS, France — Mark Cavendish wrote a new chapter of Tour de France history in what is expected to be his last appearance at cycling’s biggest race.

The veteran Isle of Man sprinter broke Eddy Merckx’s long-standing record for most career  Tour de France  stage wins with his 35th victory on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old Cavendish sprinted for the win in the fifth stage of the Tour, pulling away some 100 meters from the line despite being bunched in. He crossed the line ahead of Jasper Philipsen and then celebrated with teammates.

Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff, who had crashed earlier, finished third. They were given the same time of 4 hours, 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

Sixteen years after his first Tour stage win, Cavendish spoke of his constant hunger for victory.

“I always needed to win one more,” said Cavendish, who was joined by his children on the podium. “It takes a lot to get there every year. I’ve got incredible people around me.”

Two-time champion  Tadej Pogacar  narrowly avoided a crash and finished nestled in the main pack in 35th place. While Pogacar retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, the day belonged to Cavendish.

He  equaled Merckx’s mark  of 34 wins during the 2021 Tour and went close to No. 35 in the seventh stage last year when he was narrowly beaten by Philipsen. He crashed a day later and broke his right collarbone.

Merckx, the Belgian considered the most dominant rider in cycling history, won his 34 individual stages at the Tour from 1969-75.

Cavendish’s decision to give it one more shot paid off.

“I just wanted to get the run-in to do it. I’m a little bit in disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we’re good at the Tour de France,” Cavendish said. “We’ve done it.”

With his 2023 race ending early, Cavendish decided to put off retirement by a year and came back to try again.

Finally, Cavendish made cycling history, after winning his first Tour stage back in 2008.

Other riders were happy for Cavendish, with several stopping to speak with or hug him after the 177.4-kilometer (110-mile) leg from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas

Merckx amassed his wins in an era during which his domination was such that he earned the nickname “The Cannibal.” Unlike Merckx, one of four riders to win the Tour five times, Cavendish has never won the overall title, or come close.

But Cavendish’s longevity among his fellow Tour sprinters has no equal.

He won the Tour de France best sprinter’s green jersey twice. He also won stages at all three Grand Tours — the others are the Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta — and became a world champion in 2011.

Cavendish joined Astana after his contract with Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl expired and he was overlooked for the 2022 Tour.

Cavendish had faced a difficult start to this Tour. During the first stage, he appeared to struggle with stomach and heat issues.

“I know how it works, my trainer and everyone around me knows how it is,” Cavendish said. “I’ve done 15 Tours de France. I don’t like to have bad days, I don’t like to suffer but I know it’s just in the head and to push through it.”

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Meanwhile, Pogacar has another flat stage to get through safely Thursday, having  reclaimed the leader’s jersey  Tuesday with a brilliant attack near the top of the race’s first big mountain pass.

On Wednesday, he was simply relieved to avoid crashing.

“We were in the bunch and then suddenly something came up in the middle from nowhere. The guys in front of me braked and we touched wheels a little bit, but luckily I escaped,” he said. “I reacted on instinct and was very lucky.”

The 25-year-old Slovenian  leads overall by 45 seconds  from Tour debutant Remco Evenepoel, the Vuelta and world champion in 2022. Pogacar is 50 seconds ahead of two-time defending champion  Jonas Vingegaard  — the Danish rider who was badly injured in  a high-speed crash  at the Tour of Basque Country in early April.

Pogacar is aiming for the rare Giro-Tour double, and for his third Tour title after wins in 2020 and 2021. The last rider to win the Giro and the Tour the same year was the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

Wednesday’s stage saw Clement Russo and Matteo Vercher forming a breakaway after 35 kilometers (22 miles).

Given that French riders won the first two stages through  Romain Bardet  and  Kevin Vauquelin , this may have motivated them. With rain falling, Russo and Vercher were caught with 36 kilometers (22 miles) left.

Stage 6 on Thursday is again suited for sprinters, going through vineyards to Dijon on a mainly flat trek of around 100 miles. The first individual time trial is on Friday.

The Associated Press

Mark Cavendish breaks Tour de France record for stage wins

At 39 years old - having come back from a heartbreaking crash in what was meant to be his final Tour de France, and five winless years marked by illness and injury which contributed to a diagnosis of depression - Mark Cavendish surpasses Eddy Merckx to achieve the historic milestone.

Wednesday 3 July 2024 17:38, UK

Mark Cavendish has broken the record for Tour de France stage wins.

The British cyclist secured the historic milestone after triumphing in Saint-Vulbas, eastern France, to win the 35th stage of his career.

Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, had been level with Belgian great Eddy Merckx on 34 victories.

"I'm in a bit of disbelief," the 39-year-old Astana-Qazaqstan rider said shortly after the win.

"Astana put a big a gamble on this year, to make sure we got here, the Tour de France.

"A big gamble to come here and come and win at least one stage, you know?

"You have to go all in and, yeah, we've done it."

More on Mark Cavendish

British Cycling chief hopes Sir Mark Cavendish puts off retirement again after making Tour de France history

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• Mark Cavendish
• Tour de France 2024

His teammate and lead-out rider Cees Bol simply said: "He f****** nailed it."

It comes after bitter disappointment for Cavendish when he crashed out of last year's Tour - which he had said would be his last - and breaking his collar bone.

His victory comes just four days after he struggled in the heat of a punishing opening stage out of Florence, vomiting on the bike in concerning scenes - and two days after he missed the opportunity to contest stage three after being caught behind a late crash in Turin.

Read more Crash ends Cavendish's hopes of winning record Tour de France stage Cavendish says inspiring growth in cycling 'worth more to me than any medal'

The rider won his first Tour stages in 2008, taking four that year, and would be up to 20 by 2011.

But his four stage wins in 2021 counted as one of sport's great comeback stories, his first victories at the Tour in five years after a period of time marked by illness and injury which contributed to a diagnosis of depression.

He had equalled Merckx's record with his victory on stage 13 of that year's race, in Carcassonne.

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Sir Mark Cavendish makes cycling history at Tour de France with record-breaking 35th stage win

Mark Cavendish crushed the field in a masterful bunch sprint to claim a record-breaking 35th victory on the Tour de France when he prevailed in the fifth stage; Cavendish breaks the record previously held jointly with Eddy Merckx

Thursday 4 July 2024 07:15, UK

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Sir Mark Cavendish has claimed a record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage win with victory on stage five in Saint-Vulbas.

Three years after matching Eddy Merckx on 34 during the 2021 Tour, Cavendish moved clear of the Belgian to stand alone in Tour history.

The 39-year-old came off the wheel of Fabio Jakobsen in the finale and had the power to hold off Jasper Philipsen.

• Tour de France 2024: Stage-by-stage results and reports
• Latest cycling headlines | Stream Sky Sports on NOW

🏆 HE’S DONE IT!!! @MarkCavendish 35th win in the Tour de France!!! 🏆 IL L’A FAIT !!! @MarkCavendish remporte sa 35ème victoire sur le Tour de France !!! #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Ad1cy9dWXQ — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024

Cavendish's Astana-Qazaqstan bossed the front of the peloton for much of the final 30km of the 177km stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne but in the finale the Manxman used his years of experience to surf the wheels before powering clear of his rivals.

He left behind his lead-out man Michael Morkov and moved behind Philipsen and then Jakobsen, before spying space on the left-hand side of the road and bursting clear.

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"I'm in a little bit of disbelief," Cavendish said. "I put a big gamble on this year to make sure we were here, at the Tour de France. It's a big gamble for my boss [Astana Qazaqstan team manager Alexander Vinokourov] and the team to do. You have to go all-in. And we've done it.

"How we built the team, what we've done with equipment, every little detail has been put towards specifically today. We didn't nail it as a team as we wanted to do. But the boys improvised and got me in the best position and I was able to win."

Tour de France 2024: Stage reports

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The sprint finish meant no change to the overall standings, in which Tadej Pogacar leads Remco Evenepoel by 45 seconds, with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in third, a further five seconds back.

How Cavendish bounced back to make history

Cavendish postponed his planned retirement after crashing out of last year's Tour, with his Astana-Qazaqstan team going all-in on 'Project 35' ahead of this year's race.

His victory comes just four days after Cavendish struggled mightily in the heat of a punishing opening stage out of Florence, vomiting on the bike in concerning scenes, and two days after he missed the opportunity to contest stage three after being caught behind a late crash in Turin.

Absolute scenes at #TDF2024 🤩 Our riders get home safely on a memorable stage five. @GeraintThomas86 paid tribute to a record-breaking achievement from Mark Cavendish 🫶 pic.twitter.com/O6v5qoRleo — INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) July 3, 2024

Cavendish's four stage wins in 2021 counted as one of sport's great comeback stories, his first victories at the Tour in five years after a period of time marked by illness and injury which contributed to a diagnosis of depression.

Even since those wins three years ago, Cavendish has endured more difficulty, only signing a last-minute deal with Astana-Qazaqstan ahead of the 2023 season after the collapse of another move, then seeing last year's Tour end abruptly on stage eight.

Cavendish's wife Peta and their children were waiting at the team bus and joined in exuberant celebrations.

His first Tour stage win came in 2008 on stage five, Cholet to Chateauroux and was quickly followed by three more wins in that year's edition. Since then, Cavendish has continued to rack up wins over a total of 10 Tour de Frances.

Cavendish 'one of our greatest sportsmen'

Great Britain Cycling Team Performance Director Stephen Park CBE said: "On behalf of British Cycling I would like to congratulate Sir Mark on a truly outstanding achievement.

"It goes without saying that Mark is one of the greatest British riders of all time, and to cap off his final season of racing with another victory at the sport's biggest race is a fitting final chapter in a glittering career.

THIRTY FIVE! 🚀 Sir Mark Cavendish. Cycling's greatest ever sprinter. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/vqzOF2nIsP — British Cycling (@BritishCycling) July 3, 2024

"We have been proud to support Mark from his early days on the Great Britain Cycling Team academy to his final Tour de France, and this is an incredibly special day for the coaches, support staff, fellow riders and fans who have all played a role in his journey.

"Mark's long and storied career, his passion for the sport and his tenacious pursuit for excellence make him a real inspiration for the next generation of bike riders looking to follow in his footsteps.

"He is one of our country's truly great sportsmen and sporting personalities, and it has been a privilege to have watched him reign supreme for all these years."

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How record-breaking Mark Cavendish became a Tour de France legend – according to his rivals and teammates

Explosive on the bike and off it, the manx missile has made history as the most prolific stage winner the tour de france has ever seen. lawrence ostlere speaks to allies and opponents about the fast and furious sprinter.

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Mark Cavendish once gave me the look .

It was an interview in a hotel lobby in Yorkshire; he was slightly late and apologised profusely, then answered questions about the Tour de France with enthusiasm and detail. For some reason, I thought 10 minutes of flowing conversation made me his trusted confidant, so I looked him in the eyes and asked the question he didn’t like answering: how much do you want to break Eddy Merckx’s Tour stage record? He shrugged it off. But what would it mean to you? He went quiet. Wouldn’t it crown your legacy?

The look was somewhere in the Venn diagram of anger and disdain, and I half expected him to walk off. He stayed, but in that brief moment, I felt the gentlest prod of his famous spikiness. Cavendish was once asked what he’d learned from a difficult day on the bike. “That journalists sometimes ask some stupid f***ing questions,” he replied.

On the long journey to his historic 35th stage win , teammates and rivals have all felt Cavendish’s sharp tongue. He would slam doors if a stage didn’t go to plan. Helmets were thrown.

“We stood on the bus after races and screamed at each other,” his former lead-out man Mark Renshaw tells me.

Cavendish’s teammate Michael Morkov says of spending a month in each other’s pockets: “He’s definitely a character, so there are ups and downs. He has quite a temper.”

One of Cavendish’s greatest rivals, Marcel Kittel, tells a story from the Tour in 2012. “On the start line at different stages – it happened more than once – he was not happy with his bike computer and he was yelling and screaming at his mechanic, next to all the other riders. Everyone was just looking away [thinking] ‘you cannot do that Cav, it’s really crazy and it’s really disrespectful.’

“But everyone at the same time was like, ‘he can actually be a really nice guy’. It’s just… him.”

He took off skin from the top of the shoulders to his butt cheek – he took off his whole back

Renshaw was Cavendish’s loyal lieutenant through much of his career. On the surface there was little to unite a laidback Australian with a hyped-up Manxman; one was stoic and calculated, the other often emotional and impulsive. But Cavendish needed Renshaw’s calm head on the road, and their temperaments complemented each other.

“I don’t think you could have two Mark Cavendishs in a team and that would work,” Renshaw says gravely, as if genuinely disturbed by the image he has created.

Cavendish disrupted the existing order straight away, winning four stages at his first Tour de France in 2008, and he was paired with Renshaw the following year. Their first lead-out was a mess but “within six months we had it pretty much down pat”.

Their first Tour together would be Cavendish’s most fruitful, winning six stages in all, a rare feat (the record in a single Tour is eight). The highlight was undoubtedly the last day in Paris, winning on the Champs-Elysees where Renshaw finished behind him in a one-two. It was evident that Renshaw could have been a winner in his own right, and “the world’s best lead-out man” was soon recognised, not least by Cavendish who would eulogise about his friend.

Renshaw’s brief was to lead Cavendish through the melee and present him near the finish like a king on a cushion. He was satnav, windshield and security operation all in one. “If I had to ride in the wind, if I had to move him up in a hard section… I’d do that bodyguarding around the peloton because you’re not the most popular rider when you’re winning five stages in the Tour.”

Renshaw could have been jealous or competitive but he knew that they were different animals. “Stack us up against each other in training and I could get close. But where there’s a finish line and a big prize, he just goes that 1 or 2 per cent deeper than anybody else, he goes that little bit harder, hurts himself a little bit more. He’s got that extra drive and that cunning decision-making you need to be a winner.”

The team held a deep respect for Cavendish. “When he walked into the room, everyone lifts because they know he’s the best,” says Renshaw. And what stood out beyond the burgeoning collection of trophies and jerseys was a unique ability to deal with setbacks, to thrive in them.

“One of the moments that most shocked me was the year he had a massive crash in the Tour de Suisse. He took off skin from the top of the shoulders to his butt cheek – he took off his whole back. And he turned around two weeks later for the Tour and was straight back into winning. I just didn’t see that in many other riders.”

He was welcoming me on the top level of sprinters. He made that step towards me, not away

Cavendish was a nightmare to race against. His period of sprinting dominance was akin to Roger Federer or Tiger Woods, particularly at the Tour de France. There were 180 of the world’s most athletically outstanding humans on the start line competing for 21 stages, and for most riders just winning one was an unqualified success. Cavendish won 23 stages from 2008-2012, at 4.6 stages per Tour.

He was smaller and lighter than many of his rivals, a tightly wound ball of muscle, and his biggest weapon was his explosive acceleration. He had an erratic, swaying style that was rare and intriguing to fans and the media. By his second year, he had developed an aura. He was undisputedly the fastest man in the world. Rivals were beaten by centimetres on the finish line, but they’d already lost to his presence at the start.

“For me, Cav was the man to beat,” says Marcel Kittel, the German sprinter who won 14 Tour stages and developed a fierce rivalry.

Cavendish’s relationship with Renshaw was crucial, but following a lead-out wasn’t his only way to win. He could be out of the picture, his teammates nowhere to be seen, and quietly surf wheels to the front to pickpocket a victory someone thought they owned. “He behaved unpredictably,” Kittel tells The Independent . “He always made it difficult to anticipate his next move.”

Off the bike their relationship could be “uncomfortable”, Kittel says, but it was also full of respect. “He hates to lose and after the finish, you can really feel that – for me it’s the same. But in 2013 he was congratulating me after my first stage win and saying, ‘this is going to change your life’. He was welcoming me to the top level of sprinters. He made that step towards me, not away.”

Kittel is already retired and commentating on the Tour at 36, and these days he and Cavendish exchange stories in the paddock. They are united by a shared experience that few understand: how it feels to ride hip to hip in a tunnel of deafening noise on the finish straight of the Tour de France.

But for all that they share, Kittel points out that they were very different athletes. “He is into the history of the sport, he loved the past legends and the stories. I have a different perspective on cycling: I enjoyed it, and I still enjoy it, but I didn’t have ambitions to write history.”

He always searches for something deeper than just winning the races

The autumn of Cavendish’s career has been full of adversity: the brutal crash in Vittel that put him out of the 2017 Tour with a broken shoulder, for which Peter Sagan was disqualified ; struggles with mental health; repeated bouts of the Epstein-Barr virus which left him barely able to ride.

His return to the Tour de France, with QuickStep in 2021, was only through a stroke of fortune when the team’s lead sprinter Sam Bennett suffered a knee injury; Cavendish was paired up with Bennett’s renowned lead-out artist, the steely Danish rider Michael Morkov.

As with Renshaw, they kept missing each other in their first race at the Tour of Belgium, so before the Tour de France, Morkov and Cavendish sat down for a frank conversation.

“I had the feeling we were not really united, to be honest, maybe not on the same page,” Morkov tells The Independent . “I said to him, ‘look, I really believe that you can win a stage here in France’. I think coming there he didn’t really believe he could win, but when I said that to him, I could really see that light in his eyes. He was ready.”

Their first win together required some improvisation after a crash scuppered their lead-out train near the finish. “I moved him up and dropped him off at the front with 500 metres still to go. When I came to the finish line I could not believe it when he said he actually won.”

There was intense expectation on the sprint stages at QuickStep, but also huge pressure to get Cavendish through the mountains inside the time limits each day to avoid elimination, most notably the brutal double ascent of Mont Ventoux.

“Cav was really on the limit that day, he’s in the zone, he doesn’t reply. Then we pass the monument of Tom Simpson [the British rider who died on Ventoux in 1967] and suddenly he stops, pulls off his helmet and he bows to the monument. We were so nervous because he was on the limit to finish the stage.

“Then we have to pass the monument again. I went to him and I said, ‘mate, I admire that you make a salute for the monument, but please stay focused because we are five guys here who worked the whole day to get you through’. So he went to the car and he picked up a cycling cap, and when we passed the monument again he threw the cap and made another ‘hello’ to Tom Simpson. I think we made the time limit with less than a minute.”

When they eventually finished, Cavendish slumped as the teammates who had shielded him from the wind bumped fists and patted backs like they’d won another stage.

“For me, it’s actually a typical Cav story,” says Morkov. “Because even though there is so much pressure, he always searches for something deeper than just winning the races.”

We didn’t just sit around a campfire. We bloody went head to head with the best in the world

Fundamentally, you have to be clinically insane to be a sprinter. Humans should have no desire to ride a bike at 50mph, shoulder to shoulder with other maniacs while wearing lycra. But elite sprinters are wired differently. Cavendish competes with his emotions on the edge because it is on the sharp edges of cycling that he has built his career, where success is measured by milliseconds.

To thrive and to win, Cavendish needs to be at his most intense; he needs to walk into a room and demand everything from everyone, including himself. And the only way to get himself there is to feel pressure, like flames on the skin.

“He’s much quieter in real life,” says Renshaw. “I think you only see the 15 minutes of fame sometimes. Yeah, we didn’t just sit around a campfire and sing. We bloody went head to head with the best in the world.”

In many ways, he has gone full circle. Cavendish arrived as a disruptor, an outsider – an “underdog”, as he called himself in his book, “who learned to scrap and scratch because it was the only way for me to survive”. Now, more than ever, he is the underdog again. Few believe he is the quickest in the peloton now, and that has added more fuel.

Last year, Cavendish brought Renshaw back into his corner to consult with his new Astana teammates on lead-out precision and, presumably, to prepare them for the entire Mark Cavendish Experience. This year he reunited with Morkov, too, as if he needed to piece together the greatest parts of his career before he could complete it.

He had put off retirement year after year, desperate to surpass Merckx, giving everything to get there. With each passing stage, with each finished Tour, it seemed further from his grasp. Yet this time, against a stacked field on stage five, Cavendish produced a sprint for the ages , skipping through the chaos, hopping from wheel to wheel until suddenly he was in clean air, head down, hurting to the line.

“Do you know what bothers me,” Cavendish said last year . “Everyone calls it Merckx’s record. It’s not Merckx’s record, it’s our record. I won’t break his record; I’ll break our record.”

It’s his now.

A version of this piece was first published on 3 July 2023

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Mark Cavendish ends 17-year Tour de France career surrounded by family and cheering crowds

Asked if this is his last race, the British sprinting great answers, 'Likely so'

It was 17 years ago that sprinting great Mark Cavendish started his Tour de France career with a time trial in the streets of London in the 2007 race. Early on Sunday afternoon, after a record-breaking 35 stage wins , the British fastman completed his 15th and final Tour on the streets of Nice with, again, another time trial.

The second starter of the hilly 33.5-kilometre race against the clock from Monaco to Nice , the Astana Qazaqstan rider rolled down the start ramp at 14:41:30 local time, 90 seconds after teammate Davide Ballerini had opened the afternoon’s racing.

With his 35th stage win captured in the first week and then the last sprint on Tuesday in Nîmes, Cavendish’s final challenge in the Tour de France was to finish the race. And after successfully completing the toughest obstacles of three hard days in the Alps, the last TT was the last, much easier, hurdle to cross en route to doing that, but a hurdle nonetheless.

Cavendish finally came home on the last day of the Tour de France in a time of 54 minutes and 38 seconds, but although he had gone all out on the first part of the course to ensure he made the cut, the time he clocked barely mattered. As the rousing cheers of the crowds along the Promenade des Anglais and Place Massena made clear, as well as the dozens of wellwishers waiting outside the Astana team area, this was their last chance to pay Cavendish homage on the roads of the Tour de France - and they were determined to give him the greatest sendoff possible.

After a wave at the crowd in the last kilometre, lengthy hugs with his family at the finish line, and with one last return to the Tour de France winner’s podium for a special ceremony still awaiting him to honour his achievements, Cavendish spoke to the press about what the final stage had meant to him.

“I think I got most of the emotions out of the way yesterday [Saturday],” Cavendish said, referring to the tears he shed on crossing the finish line at the Col de la Couillole, where he had battled against the time cut in the mountains - and won - for one final occasion in the Tour de France. 

“I kind of enjoyed today. OK I couldn´t go easy, I knew if I got to the top of the climb by a certain point I’d be all right for the time limit, so I just could do that, then I could just really enjoy it. Enjoy counting down the kilometres, see the flamme rouge for the last time, and see my family across the finish line - it was very, very nice.”

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With his place in the Tour’s history books now guaranteed, and due to finish as lanterne rouge in the race overall, Cavendish took his time when asked what he thought of the last three weeks and what he had achieved, before stating simply, “I’m incredibly happy".

“There are 11 teams that will leave the Tour without a win,” he said, this assuming one of the previously successful squads would take another later on Sunday, of course. "[but] we got the win, and we got the win we wanted, which is important.

“Like everything, you live a rollercoaster in the Tour, you bond together as a group and you enjoy the successes and the hard times together. I was so lucky to have a group round me here, that we could get through and achieve the success we wanted and arrive here at Nice to celebrate.”

With no final stage on the Champs Elysées, Cavendish said that it was strange for him to experience his last day of the Tour without pressure. 

“We went back to the hotel yesterday, I just wanted to be with the boys and the team, have a relaxing dinner, sat and talked after that and that was it, really. So it was relaxed for today but I still had a job to do.” 

Asked if this really was his last race, Cavendish took another lengthy pause before answering, “Likely so, yeah".

After completing the round of interviews, Cavendish headed to the team bus with his family, with dozens of wellwishers standing opposite to greet him. Also present at the Astana bus was team manager Alexander Vinokourov, whose signing of Cavendish at the last minute in 2022 made breaking the Tour stage record previously held equally with Eddy Merckx a possibility.

“Getting that 35th stage was our goal, our dream,” Vinokourov told Cyclingnews . “It´s also great that we got here to Nice, all the way here… Just watching Mark ride that last kilometre was really moving to see.

“And just seeing the way he sprinted too, to get that 35th win, after all the hard work that went into it -  that was something very special. It’s a dream come true, and this way Mark  has no regrets, either - it’s magnificent.”

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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Mark Cavendish’s Tour de France Wins Record Was Hardly a Cakewalk

The British sprinter just became the most prolific stage winner in Tour history. The milestone came after years of setbacks.

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There was a time in the not-so distant past when British cyclist Mark Cavendish seemed to have a better shot at winning a bowling tournament or a game of darts than claiming another stage at the Tour de France . Cavendish, perhaps the best pure sprinter in cycling history, spent the 2017-2020 seasons struggling with illness and injury and various other setbacks.

Cycling journalists, myself included, watched as these calamities tore Cavendish apart from inside. He’d cry in post-race interviews , y ell at rivals , and regularly lose his cool with the media . In 2019, Cavendish could barely stay with the peloton at the Tour of Slovenia, let alone thrive at the Tour de France. This fallow period came during his mid-thirties, the age when most pro cyclists ride off into the sunset.

But one goal kept Cavendish coming back to the sport in lieu of the losses and heartache: his dogged pursuit of the Tour de France’s record for most stage victories. Since 1977 that number had held at 34, set by the greatest all-around cyclist of all time, Belgian legend Eddy Merckx.

⚔️ SIR MARK CAVENDISH 🏆 🇬🇧 @MarkCavendish #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/v6GBrCYjoH — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024

And then, Cavendish’s form returned. During the 2021 Tour, Cavendish scored an amazing four stage wins, which brought him even with Merckx. The history books seemed within reach. And then, more setbacks. His Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl team left him off the Tour roster in 2022 in favor of the younger sprinter Fabio Jakobsen. He returned to the Tour with a different team, Astana Qazaqstan, in 2023, only to crash out of the race on the eighth stage during what was supposed to be his final season.

I, along with a few other cycling pundits, assumed Cavendish would simply retire after that heartache, content to be tied with Merckx in the history books. Boy were we wrong.

On Wednesday, Cavendish unleashed a sudden burst of speed in the waning moments of the Tour’s fifth stage to win the stage, vaulting him past Merckx in the history books as the Tour’s most prolific winner.

The victory showcased Cavendish’s brains and brawn as a racer: after he lost touch with his teammate in the chaotic gallop to the line, Cavendish found the wheel of the sport’s new dominant sprinter, Jasper Philipsen of Belgium, and then bolted around him just before the finish.

The 39-year-old Cavendish was mobbed after crossing the line, first by his Astana teammates, and then by other Tour riders as he celebrated his milestone. He brushed back tears during his post-race television interview, and shook his head in disbelief as he replayed the win.

“It’s how the Tour de France is. You sprint as hard as you can until you get to the finish line. And maybe your life changes” Mark Cavendish talks to Matt after winning his record breaking 35th Tour de France stage 🙌🇮🇲 #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/sWPJrA8vfY — ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 3, 2024

“You sprint and go as hard as you can until you get to the finish and maybe your life changes if you cross that line first, maybe it doesn’t if you don’t,” Cavendish said. “That is the nature of this race and what makes it so beautiful.”

It’s also been the nature of his career. Cavendish has raced in the pro ranks since the 2006 season. For context, the Tour’s current leader, Tadej Pogacar, was eight years old back then. He won his first Tour stage in 2008, which kicked off a six-year run of dominance, before enduring winless streaks, returns to greatness, and more fallow times.

Over that span Cavendish has battled multiple generations of rivals: Erik Zabel, Robbie McEwan, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan, Dylan Groenewegen, among others. He’s enjoyed longevity as a sprinter—a chaotic and dangerous profession that rewards strong legs, daredevil attitudes, and a big ego.

Two memories popped into my head as I watched Cavendish celebrate his historic win—scenes that reminded me of Cavendish’s good times and bad. The first came from stage 11 of the 2018 Tour, which finished high in the alpine ski resort of La Rosiere. Half an hour after stage winner Geraint Thomas had finished the stage, Cavendish huffed and puffed up the long ascent by himself, the final rider to finish. I stood alongside a handful of journalists as we watched him ride across the line.

He crossed it well past the elimination time cut, which mean he was disqualified for the remainder of the Tour. It was a yet another setback during Cavendish’s four-season fallow period, and it stung.

Cavendish cursed and spat and rode straight past his Dimension Data team bus and the gaggle of journalists standing out front, and beelined it straight to the hotel. His poor team director at the time, Douglas Ryder, had to answer for him. “Mark is bitterly disappointed,” Ryder told those of us gathered at the bus.

The next memory comes from the final stage of the 2013 Tour—a race where Cavendish collected two stage wins and challenged for the win in three others. Cavendish didn’t win the final sprint along the Avenue du Champs Elysees in downtown Paris, but still he was still encircled by adoring fans along the historic avenue. Whatever disappointment he felt seemed to melt away, and he enjoyed the attention, smiling and signing autographs. At the time he was 28 and still dominating the Tour’s sprint stages, and the Merckx record seemed like an inevitability.

We now know that the record wasn’t predestined—but rather something Cavendish would spend the next 11 years chasing. And the struggles he endured to get back to the Tour’s winning circle, in my mind anyway, make his accomplishment all the more worthy of praise.

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Mark Cavendish will win at the Tour de France, and break the stage win record

The Astana-Qazaqstan rider, newly knighted, will come good. Just wait.

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News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here . As ever, email [email protected] - should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.

Sir Mark Cavendish will line up in Florence on Saturday, ready for his 15th and final Tour de France , in the knowledge that he is already making history: he will be the first knight to ever ride the French Grand Tour.

His mind, though, will be on a bigger slice of history. The 39-year-old, as I’m sure you already know, stands just one stage win away from setting the record for Tour de France stage wins. At present, the Astana Qazaqstan rider has 34, the same number as the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx, but needs just one more to forget on alone.

Whenever I think of making history , I think of an Irish play of the same name, written by Brian Friel. I doubt Cavendish is of the same mind. Instead, he will be focused on making his own history, his cycling immortality, which will come with just one more stage win.

Just one, that’s all he needs. If you think about the 164 wins the Manxman has taken over his career - a record for a male sprinter , by the way - just one more doesn’t seem like that big an ask.

I think he will do it. There might be as many as eight sprint opportunities at this year’s Tour, and Cavendish only needs one to go right. He almost had it last year, in Bordeaux , only to be denied by his gears slipping and a rampaging Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). 

Cavendish has always been one of the best at getting in the right place at the right time, and his Astana team is set up to deliver him to exactly the right point; Michael Mørkøv and Davide Ballerini were both part of the Soudal Quick-Step team which helped him to four wins in 2021, and with Cees Bol, form an enviable leadout train.

You can almost picture it in your mind. One of the stages ending in a flat finish , like Dijon or Saint-Amand-Montrond. Cavendish, hidden from view until the final moment, bursting out as if from nowhere, out-pacing his rivals, the arms outstretched. It would feel deserved too, with the man in blue coming back from so much just to be on the start line, let alone competitive.

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I’ll be honest, I have done a huge U-turn on the idea of Cavendish doing it this season. He hasn’t raced as much as he usually does, through illness mainly, and has only won twice - at the Tours of Colombia and Hungary .

Also, Philipsen looked so good last season, and has built this year around the Tour again. Along with Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), there are more in form - and potentially faster - sprinters at the race.

However, the Tour is different, and the ‘Manx Missile’ thrives on the biggest of stages. He’ll be there, frustrated on days he misses out, and will find the right moment to strike. The experience he has built up counts for so much, and as long as he makes it over the high mountains, an opportunity will present itself. Also, Philipsen and De Lie can’t win all eight sprint stages, right?

Dot Tilbury, Cavendish’s first ever cycling coach when he was making his way on the Isle of Man, put it better than me earlier this month: "The only thing I can say is that Mark Cavendish wouldn't be there if he didn't think he could do it. 

“People have written him off when he has had his ups and downs, but he wouldn't have come back if he didn't think he could win. Don't write him off. When he is cooking on gas, it's poetry in motion."

This piece is part of  The Leadout , the offering of newsletters from  Cycling Weekly  and  Cyclingnews.  To get this in your inbox,  subscribe here .

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email [email protected] .

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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