How Mark Cavendish broke Eddy Merckx's all-time Tour de France stage win record

Mark Cavendish finally did it - he broke Eddy Merckx's Tour de France stage victory record by winning his 35th stage. It was a record that stood for 48 years. 

Not only is Cavendish's record remarkable for the comparison with a legend like Merckx, but it also cements the Manx Missile as the best sprinter in the history of cycling, and possibly the best there ever will be.

Of Merckx's 34 stage wins 16 came in time trials - he won three prologue time trials and 13 individual time trials, and 18 mass start stages at the Tour de France. Of the latter, only two stages could be considered bunch sprints - the final stage of the 1974 Tour de France and stage 7 that same year from a group of 55 riders.

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All of Mark Cavendish's Tour de France stage wins have come in bunch sprints, and his victory on stage 5 at this year's edition was a masterclass in using mental clarity, experience, quick and good decision making and sharp elbows to defeat his faster rivals.

Wednesday, July 3, 2024, will go down in history as the day Cavendish finally broke the Merckx Tour de France record in the nondescript village of Saint-Vulbas in the Ain department. Cyclingnews breaks down exactly how Cavendish earned his 35th Tour de France stage win.

6km to go

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Astana Qazaqstan were patient in the final 10 kilometres, waiting to come to the front until 6.2km to go after Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates got the peloton through a roundabout. Two of the Astana riders came to the fore but Cavendish was a bit further back. When they saw he wasn't there, they pulled off the front to find their way to him, allowing Visma to take the lead again.

4km to go

The washing machine was in full effect as riders dodged traffic furniture. Astana let Lotto Dstny, Bahrain Victorious and Intermarché-Wanty fight it out for the front, keeping Cavendish just behind.

2km to go

Lotto Dstny are in the lead for Arnaud De Lie on the left side of the road while Alpecin-Deceuninck begin to make a big surge. Cofidis and sprinter Bryan Coquard get pinched out of contention as Philipsen's team close from the right to take over from Lotto Dstny.

Cavendish stays calm, seeing Philipsen to his right and Belgian champion De Lie up ahead on the left. He stays on his own team's wheels, ignoring Team DSM-Firmenich-PostNL and Arkéa-B&B Hotels on the far right side of the road.

1km to go

Cavendish's team pulls him ahead of De Lie and Philipsen, looking around for Michael Mørkøv, but he's been washed away and is caught behind De Lie. Mørkøv makes a move to try to get around De Lie but runs into Mathieu van der Poel and can't make it, Bahrain's Phil Bauhaus is in the way and he can't get to Cavendish to be the final man. Cavendish is going to have to freelance this one.

DSM, Arkéa and Israel-Premier Tech close in from the right and start to pinch Astana, putting Mørkøv completely out of the picture. Astana are boxed in along the left side barriers, having to coast behind green jersey holder Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X).

Then, Alpecin's man pulls off to the right, finally opening up the road so that Van der Poel can come forward with Philipsen. At the same moment, Abrahamsen looks around for Alexander Kristoff.

Cavendish gets separated from his team but slots in behind Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech). A brief coming together between Ackermann and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) right in front of Cavendish could easily have caused a crash - luckily they bounced off each other.

700m - 600m to go

After Ackermann and Démare's clash, Cavendish slots slightly to the right and finds Philipsen's wheel but Bauhaus tries to fight him for it, but is no match. Cavendish gets his bars in front and Bauhaus, who has Fernando Gaviria to his right, has a choice to make - fight Cav for the wheel and crash or give up. He makes the right choice.

400m to go

Van der Poel begins his lead-out with Philipsen and Cavendish on his wheel, who has Démare trying to crowd him on the left. Cavendish seems hopelessly boxed in but a magic moment happens when Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek) begins his final surge for Mads Pedersen.

DSM's final man sees Jakobsen is nowhere and sits up, opening up a hole in the middle to Cavendish's left. Cavendish sees the acceleration and leaves Philipsen's wheel, getting a clean two-bike-length piece of road to pick up speed.

"I just followed. I saw Alpecin come. I knew they had numbers so I went with them. Ackermann was there but you can’t really predict which was Ackermann goes so you kind of have to wait for him to jump and them come up. So that’s what I did," Cavendish said afterward.

300m to go

Gibbons gets the lead with Ackermann on his wheel, and Cav slots in behind the German, getting that last lead-out that Mørkøv would normally provide. The speed gets him past Philipsen, who briefly tries to grab Ackermann's wheel but meets with Cavendish's sharp elbow.

Gibbons fades, Philipsen is boxed in along the barriers and can't get out, and Cavendish is perfectly poised on Ackermann's wheel with the finish line coming fast.

150m to go

Cavendish dives to the left past Ackermann and opens up the jets. Philipsen gets out to the middle of the road and latches onto Cavendish's wheel but it's too late.

Cav has the open road and the finish line in sight and behind, chaos ensues as Pedersen hits the barriers and goes down, with a Cofidis rider bunny-hopping him but nobody is paying attention because history is about to be made.

0km to go

Mark Cavendish celebrates as he finally breaks the Merckx record and inks his name into the Tour de France history books as the rider to win the most stages in history, beating Philipsen and Kristoff.