Briton Mark Cavendish, 39, won the sprint in Saint-Vulbas his 35th victory in the Tour de France, a success that makes him the cyclist with the most victories in the history of the century-old race, one more than the Belgian Eddy Merckx.
On a completely flat day, there were no changes in the general classification, which continues to be led by the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, with a 45-second lead over the Belgian Remco Evenpoel and 50 with the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the last two editions.
After several days of ordeal, in which he arrived at the edge of the checkpoint, vomiting, with a look of genuine suffering on his face, the cyclist from the Isle of Man achieved his goal of becoming the rider with the most victories in the Tour. In 2021, when he had four victories, he tied Merckx with 34 stages. and from then on, surpassing him became an obsession for him.
The following year he was unable to compete in the Tour and in 2023 he arrived assuring that it would be his last season in the peloton. After finishing second at the finish line in Bordeaux, he had to retire in the eighth stage due to a fall, leaving him with a bad taste in his mouth.
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The Astana team offered him to stay for another year with the aim of dethroning Merckx and the Briton accepted, a decision that bore fruit in the small town of Saint-Vulbas, 49 years after the Belgian’s last triumph.
The Briton won in a clean sprint, in which, without a lead-out, he managed to make room for himself among the big teams in the peloton and was the fastest ahead of important cyclists such as the Belgian Jasper Philipsen and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff.
Cavendish won his first stage at the Tour at Chateauroux in 2008, year in which he raised his arms four times. Six triumphs the following year, five in 2010 and 2011, in what were the years of his great dominance.
In the following years his hegemony declined somewhat. Three victories in 2012 and two in 2013. The victories were spaced out in the following years, until in 2021 he returned with great force to equal Merckx.
He surpassed him in one of his worst years, in which he had only achieved two victories, in Hungary and in Colombia. With 265 wins in total, Cavendish has a glorious track record.
2024-07-03 16:21:02
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