Home » World » Tour 2024: HE’S GOT IT! Mark Cavendish breaks Eddy Merckx’s file with thirty fifth stage win

Tour 2024: HE’S GOT IT! Mark Cavendish breaks Eddy Merckx’s file with thirty fifth stage win

Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 5:40 PM

Mark Cavendish made historical past right now. The Briton received the fifth stage of the Tour de France and has thus turn out to be the only real file holder for the variety of stage wins within the Tour de France. He beforehand shared the file with Eddy Merckx, who received 34 instances within the Tour throughout his profession. Cavendish was too quick for Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff in Saint-Vulbas.

A day after climbing the legendary Col du Galibier, the sprinters must ignore the fatigue of their legs. The quick males had been again in motion within the fifth stage of the Tour de France. From Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, a 177-kilometre stage took the riders in direction of Saint-Vulbas, close to Lyon. With solely two brief climbs alongside the way in which, nothing appeared to face in the way in which of a second mass dash.

Very quiet preliminary section
The baroudeurs understood this too. They confirmed little want to assault within the first kilometres. In actual fact, no person tried to get away within the preliminary section. Till Oier Lazkano and Juan Ayuso, quantity 4 within the rating, went into battle. A joke by the 2 Spaniards, who had been quickly caught up once more. Males like Tim Declercq and Mathieu van der Poel additionally performed together with some so-called pinpricks.

Little motion within the early levels – picture: Cor Vos

After about 25 kilometres of racing, the sport appeared to get severe. A bunch of 4 rode away, together with the Swiss steam locomotives Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger. Alpecin-Deceuninck smelled the hazard and determined to shut the hole. The sprinter groups had been much less afraid of Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), the following to strive one thing. He took nearly a minute on his personal. Nevertheless, it will not be a lonely day for the Frenchman, as a result of his compatriot Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) crossed the road slightly later. So we nonetheless bought a number one group.

French duo within the lead
Russo and Vercher cycled collectively to a lead of virtually 5 minutes. They bought no extra from the peloton, the place Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek managed the race. The sprinter groups of Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen respectively shortly diminished the distinction to a few and a half minutes. Then they stored nibbling away. Russo and Vercher had been the primary to cross the Côte du Cheval Blanc (1.5 km at 4.6%), the place Russo took the one level, and in addition rode in entrance on the intermediate dash in Aoste.

The peloton dash there was received by Mads Pedersen, who narrowly beat Sam Bennett for third place. Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen got here by way of in fifth and sixth place respectively. Within the meantime, the peloton was briefly shocked by a crash. It was none apart from Tadej Pogacar who induced this. The yellow jersey wearer was using in the midst of the highway, the place a pace bump all of the sudden appeared. He braked, skidded and was in a position to keep away from the impediment himself. Nevertheless, they fell behind him. Pello Bilbao, Jonas Rickaert and Matej Mohoric had been amongst those that fell.

On to a dash
Everybody was in a position to proceed their method. They rejoined the peloton, which was now using within the rain. On the similar time, the tempo elevated considerably, as a result of the Côte de Lhuis (3 km at 4.9%) was approaching. On this climb, Russo (who acquired the combativeness award) and Vercher can be caught. Jonas Abrahamsen, the chief within the mountain classification, nonetheless had the possibility to seize a mountain level. For the remainder, nothing occurred on the climb. All sprinters survived the final impediment with none issues.

Russo in Vercher – picture: Cor Vos

Not everybody bought by way of the kilometres after that with out color cracks. Though the sky had cleared up a bit, the roads had been nonetheless moist. Partly due to that, there have been a number of crashes. First Alexander Kristoff hit the asphalt, slightly later Christophe Laporte had a slide. Kristoff particularly appeared to have harm himself, however the Norwegian was in a position to return. He apparently nonetheless wished to combine within the inevitable mass dash.

Cavendish takes his thirty fifth!
Within the run-up to that mass dash, Lotto Dstny initially took the lead. With one and a half kilometres to go, the boys from Alpecin-Deceuninck handed them. DSM-firmenich PostNL and Arkéa-B&B Resorts additionally reported on the entrance. Mark Cavendish was a bit additional, however was in a position to come by way of the center, noticed a niche after which began his dash. The 39-year-old rider from Astana Qazaqstan nonetheless had a giant acceleration in his legs and created a niche over Jasper Philipsen.

The Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck couldn’t meet up with Cavendish. The Briton took his thirty fifth stage win within the Tour de France. That’s yet one more than Eddy Merckx, with whom he shared the file for stage wins within the Tour de France.

Pedersen elected
Behind Cavendish, Philipsen got here in second. Third place went to Alexander Kristoff, who had fallen earlier, who simply managed to remain forward of Arnaud De Lie. Fabio Jakobsen got here in fifth. Mads Pedersen didn’t end within the entrance: the Lidl-Trek rider fell within the dash. It isn’t but clear what harm the Dane sustained.

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