MARK CAVENDISH has broken the record for Tour de France stage wins.
Three years after matching Eddy Merckx on 34, he moved clear of the Belgian with a 35th triumph.
Cavendish came off the wheel of Fabio Jakobsen and held off Jasper Philipsen in a thrilling finale.
The 39-year-old said: “I’m in a little bit of disbelief.
“Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we’re good here at the Tour, my boss has done it.
“It’s a big gamble to come here to try to win at least one stage, a big gamble for my boss Alexander Vinokourov, a big thing to do, it shows he’s an ex-bike rider, somebody who knows what the Tour de France is.
“You have to go all-in and we’ve done it and worked it exactly how we wanted to do, how we built the team, the equipment, every little detail has been put towards today.”
Cavendish postponed his planned retirement after crashing out of last year’s Tour, with his Astana-Qazaqstan team going all-in on Project 35 ahead of this year’s race.
His victory comes just four days after struggling in the heat of a punishing opening stage out of Florence, where he vomited while on his bike.
He missed the opportunity to contest stage three after being caught behind a late crash in Turin.
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Cavendish’s four stage wins in 2021 counted as one of sport’s great comeback stories – his first victories at the Tour in five years after a spell illness and injury which contributed to a diagnosis of depression.
Even since those wins three years ago, Cavendish has endured more difficulty, only signing a last-minute deal with Astana-Qazaqstan ahead of the 2023 season after the collapse of another move, then seeing last year’s Tour end abruptly on stage eight.
The Manxman used his years of experience of surf the wheels before powering clear of his rivals.
He left behind his lead-out man Michael Morkov, before spying space on the left-hand side of the road and bursting clear.
Cavendish’s wife Peta, 37, and their children were waiting at the team bus and joined in exuberant celebrations.
Mark Cavendish admits he was a “nightmare to live with” at home with wife Peta as he rowed with team management at old outfit Team Dimension Data, struggled with his diet and was axed from 2019 Tour selection.
Speaking of his depression, the father-of-five, said: “I didn’t have anything, didn’t want anything, didn’t do anything, didn’t feel anything.
“You’re just f***ing empty, you know. The sense of worthlessness. I’d lost any get up that I’d ever had. Just to be a person, to be a dad, to be friend, a husband.
“I was too consumed in self-pity to care about what anyone cared about me.”
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