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Sir Mark Cavendish took the Tour de France stage win record with victory on stage five in Saint Vulbas, his 35th stage triumph at the French Grand Tour.
The Astana Qazaqstan sprinter was the first to go clear on the final bend and crossed the line clearly in front of everyone else in the peloton to make history.
He overtook Eddy Merckx’s long-standing record of 34 stage wins in the process, after surfing the wheels, jumping from Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to go for the win.
Second was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) in third.
The yellow jersey remains on the shoulders of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
The man from the Isle of Man, still racing at 39, was knighted last month, but now has the accolade he wanted the most.
“We just wanted to get the run in to do it, I guess,” Cavendish said post-stage. “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.
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“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.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
A surprising early attack came from Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), just 7km into the day, but they were soon caught.
The attacking kept going for the first 25km of the day, with Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) attempting to go clear with 153km to go. He was chased by the Swiss pair of Stefan Küng (also Groupama-FDJ) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), but these two could not get clear.
Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) could get up the road, however, joining Russo with 143km to go. Their gap got to almost five minutes over the day.
Russo was the first to the top of the Côte du Cheval Blanc to take maximum points from that.
Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck were very much in control of the peloton for most of the day, aiming to keep the breakaway in check.
With 59km to go, a sizable crash – one of the first major ones of the whole race – saw Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) held up or come down, among others. It was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), the yellow jersey, who was at the front of it, almost colliding with a traffic island. The chain reaction brought down those behind him.
The first across the line at the intermediate sprint, with 54km to go, was Russo. However, the action was more happening behind in the peloton, where many of the top sprinters were aiming for bonus points in the green jersey competition.
It was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who took the 11 points, beating Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the dominant sprinter last year, looked a little out of sorts here.
The heavens opened late on in the day, once the race very much on, making the day that bit harder.
The break were caught with about 36km to go, which allowed Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) to extend his lead in the mountains classification by one point.
From the top of the Côte de Lhuis, it became a fast race towards the finish, with the GC teams very much to the fore to protect their designated riders.
With 28km to go, the Uno-X Mobility sprinter Alexander Kristoff crashed on the descent from the Lhuis, but remounted. Astana Qazaqstan were pushing on the pace at the front at the same time.
The speed with which the final 45 minutes were tackled was incredible, as the sprint teams knew this was a huge opportunity. The last 5km saw two big corners, so positioning was hugely important.
Into the last curve, Uno-X Mobility surged forward for Kristoff. Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan), who had lost his lead-out train in the chaos, surfed the wheels, but eventually popped up and had a clear run at the line to take an historic victory.
The moment was marred by a crash for Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Results
Tour de France 2024, stage five: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Saint Vulbas (177.4km)
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Astana Qazaqstan, in 4:08:46
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
8. Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
9. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
10. Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time
General classification after stage five
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 23:15:24
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +45sec
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +50sec
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, +1:10
5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:14
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:16
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at s.t.
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:21
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