Cavendish: I’m in a little bit of disbelief

Mark Cavendish took his coveted record of stage wins in the Tour de France in the fifth stage of the 2024 Tour de France.

The Briton showed that he was the fastest in the bunch sprint in Saint-Vulbas and wrote history as he passed Eddie Merckx’s 34 victories.

“We just wanted to get the run in to do it, I guess,” Cavendish said. “Woah. I’m in a little bit of disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we had a good Tour de France. We gambled on coming here and winning at least one stage. That’s a big gamble for my boss, Alexandre Vinokourov”.

“That shows an ex bike rider, one who knows what the Tour de France is. You know you have to go all in, and we’ve done it. We worked exactly what we wanted to do, how we built the team, the equipment. Every detail has gone specifically to today”.

“You see what it means. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be top of the UCI rankings, but the Tour de France is bigger than cycling.”

“It normally takes me days to get into it,” Cavendish said, reflecting on his struggles on stage one. “I know it works. If everyone knew how it was, everyone would be a bike rider, my job would be a lot harder. I’ve done 15 Tours now. I don’t like having bad days, I don’t like to suffer, but I know it’s just in the head, and if you get through it you can have an opportunity. Things have to go your way.

“We didn’t nail it as a team, like we wanted to do, but the boys got me there in the best position. I shot onto whatever train was going, and was able to win. It’s beneficial to be able to use your head a bit.”