A near-speechless Mark Cavendish said he was in ‘disbelief’ after he broke the record for the most Tour de France stage wins in history with a stunning sprint finish in Saint Vulbas.
In what is likely to be his final Tour, the 39-year-old opened up a sizeable gap and powered home on a memorable stage five in eastern France.
Cavendish’s latest triumph was the 35th of the veteran Brit’s Tour career, a remarkable tally which took him beyond Eddy Merckx’s previous record of 34 victories.
The Isle of Man legend, riding for Astana-Qazaqstan, had previously stated that last year would be his 14th and final Tour, but the pursuit of a record-breaking total motivated him to ride again for one last shot at immortality.
‘I really just wanted to get the run-in to do it, I guess. I’m in a little bit of disbelief,’ Cavendish told ITV Sport just moments after the race.
‘I’ve put a big gamble on this year to make sure we had a good year. It was a big gamble to come here and just win one stage, you know? It’s a big gamble for my team manager Alexander Vinokourov.
‘That just shows an ex-bike rider, someone who knows what the Tour de France is and you have to go all in.’
After being left out in 2022 and suffering a broken collar bone in 2023, Cavendish said the Tour was ‘bigger than cycling’ and thanked his team for the support they had shown over the last 12 months.
‘We’ve done it. We worked exactly what we wanted to do, how we built the team, what we’ve done with the equipment. Every little detail has been put towards specifically today,’ he added.
‘Okay, it doesn’t mean we’re going to be top in the UCI rankings or anything but the Tour de France is bigger than cycling, isn’t it? You know what I showed this race.’
The iconic Manx cyclist admitted Astana-Qazaqstan had failed to ‘nail’ every aspect of their preparation and securing the record-breaking win required a large slice luck.
‘I’ve done 15 Tour de Frances now. I don’t like to have bad days, I don’t like to suffer,’ he continued.
‘But I know it’s just in the head and when you push, you get through it and you can have an opportunity.
‘Things have to still go your way. We didn’t nail it as a team like we wanted to but the boys improvised and got me there in the best position and I was able to win.
Asked whether his mindset set him apart, Cavendish replied: ‘It’s definitely a benefit, especially when you’re physically not as good as everybody else.
‘It’s definitely beneficial to be able to use your head a bit more.’
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