Mark Cavendish of the Astana Qazaqstan team before the 7th stage of the Tour de France
The Briton Mark Cavendish has “nothing to lose”, he declared on Friday, on the eve of the departure in Florence (Italy) of the 111th edition of the Tour de France where he will aim for a 35th stage victory, synonymous record.
“It’s not like I’m playing roulette where if I don’t win I lose my 34 Tour victories,” the 39-year-old sprinter said at a press conference.
“I have won the most stages in the Tour de France (34), tied with the great Eddy Merckx. I’m just trying to get more. Whether it’s one, two or ten more, it doesn’t matter. Our job is to try and win.”
Last year, for what was to be his 14th and final Grande Boucle, Mark Cavendish left the race during the 8th stage after breaking his right collarbone in a fall, the same one he had already broken in 2017.
The day before, in Bordeaux, he was a few centimetres away from dethroning the Belgian Eddy Merckx, but he was supplanted on the line by Jasper Philipsen after being disturbed by a mechanical incident.
So, to try one last time to beat this mythical record, the 2011 world champion has signed up for another season with the Astana Qazaqstan team, 16 years after his first victory in the French race. He predicts “five or six chances” to win over the next three weeks of racing.
“We wouldn’t be here if we thought it wasn’t possible,” he said, two weeks after being knighted during the birthday parade of King Charles III.
“I said before I started my career that if I could one day be included in the book of great riders in the history of cycling, I would be happy,” replied the two-time winner of the Tour green jersey (2011 and 2021) when asked about the legacy he wanted to leave.
“I have the chance to inspire several generations: adults, children, it doesn’t matter. If they can grow up and see me from afar or know me, know that I left an impact on them that motivates them, that’s the most important thing.”
The man with 164 victories has raised his arms twice this season, winning a stage of the Tour of Colombia and another at the Tour of Hungary in the face of less adversity than he will face in the Tour de France.
To help him in his quest, his faithful Danish pilot fish Michael Morkov (39) joined him this year in the Kazakh team.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said the Briton.
(Written by Vincent Daheron, edited by Tangi Salaün)
