Mark Cavendish (Astana) made history on stage 5 by sprinting to victory and notching his 35th stage victory at the Tour de France, surpassing the previous record held by Eddy Merckx. Finishing just behind in second place was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) in third place.
Cavendish had this to say afterwards: “I just followed Alpecin-Deceuninck. I knew they had numbers over there. Pascal Ackermann would be there, but you cannot really predict what he’s going to do, and you have to wait for him to jump, and that’s what I did. 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.”
“It was a big gamble to be here, to try to win here,” Cavendish added. “A big gamble for my boss. That shows that he is an ex-racer and that he knows what the Tour is. We just did it. We did what we wanted. Every detail in terms of equipment and teammates was adapted to sprinting. It’s almost like relief, I guess, like a weight has been lifted.”
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike): “Certainly in the sprint stages of the Tour today, there is not always the same interest in making the race tough. Then you get a fast finale and of course he still has the legs. It is certainly a fairytale. It is super clever that he has continued to pursue that all these years. He simply has so much experience that he is still super good at positioning himself and going at the right moment. I think he shows that today. He now beats Merckx, so to speak, in terms of the number of stages, but you can’t compare those riders. Records are there to be broken. But no one ever thought that this record would be broken. Hats off.”
Patrick Lefevere (Deceuninck Quick-Step); “We were in the bus and everyone was yelling like it was one of our riders winning. When we saw that Mark won everyone in the bus was like ‘Argh’ and screaming. I’m proud and I’m happy for him because I think we were part of this history – when nobody wanted him anymore, I took him back and he took four victories in one year.”
RESULTS
Stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Saint Vulbas (177.4km)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
