Mark Cavendish rolled back the years as he claimed his 31st Tour de France stage victory on Tuesday, five years after his last success on the French grand tour.
You can rewatch STAGE 4 of 2021 Tour de France HERE
The Briton, who finished outside the time limit in his previous participation in 2018, crashed out in 2017 and hinted at retirement last year. He is now three victories away from the Tour’s all-time stage win record held by Eddy Merckx.
Cavendish, back in the Deceuninck-Quick Step team this season after a five-year hiatus, powered past his rivals in the final straight to beat Nacer Bouhanni to the line. Jasper Philipsen took third place while his Alpecin-Fenix team mate Mathieu van der Poel retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
“I don’t know what to say,” said a tearful Cavendish, who was a last-minute stand-in on the team for Sam Bennett. “Just being here is special enough. I didn’t know I would get to come back to this race. I thought I was never coming back (on the Tour) honestly but the stars have aligned somehow. After last year it’s just nice to have some good luck.
“We didn’t know we were going to get there but we just see what a team this is. So many people didn’t believe in me but these guys do.”
Wednesday’s fifth stage is a 27.2-km individual time trial from Change to Laval, and all eyes will be on the overall contenders.
Brent Van Moer kan net geen stand houden, Cavendish wint de massasprint! #TDF #TourDeFrance #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/hYfV0dfSmN
— Sporza ? (@sporza_koers) June 29, 2021
