To paraphrase the 2011 baseball film Moneyball, 'It's hard not to be romantic about cycling'. A full 17 years after first turning a pedal in anger at the Tour de France, and having, just in the past three years, battled through illness, crashes, and non-selection, Mark Cavendish has claimed the all-time Tour de France stage win record.
For nigh on half a century, Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stages stood untouchable at the top of the pile, with Bernard Hinault on 28 the only rider to make it vaguely close to the Belgian's mammoth total.
But on Wednesday, in the small, sleepy village of Saint-Vulbas, the Cannibal was toppled as Cavendish swept clear of fellow veteran Alexander Kristoff as well as a new generation of fastmen in Jasper Philipsen and Arnaud De Lie to win once again.
Now he stands alone at the top of the pile, 23 wins and counting clear of any current rider (guess who?). 1,090 days since his 34th stage win, Cavendish was once again the quickest man at a Tour de France finish.
Shortly after the conclusion of the otherwise unremarkable 177km trek across the Savoie and Ain departments, Cavendish, despite so often having been in the same position during his 18-year career, was quick to express his disbelief at his win, before, almost in the same breath, expressing his gratitude to those who had helped him conquer the unconquerable.
"I'm a little bit in disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we're good at the Tour de France. My boss has done it. It was a big gamble trying to come in and win at least one stage. It was a big gamble for my boss, Alexander Vinokourov.
"It shows the next bike riders what the Tour de France is, know you have to go all in. We've done it. We worked exactly how we wanted – how we built the team, what we've done with the equipment, every detail has been put specifically towards today."
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A short time later, in the daily post-stage press conference, Cavendish's thoughts again barely strayed beyond gratitude to his team and his family, the new record-breaker understandably impatient to get away from the microphone and spend time with those who have supported him along the way.
"I just want to see my boys, my teammates, not just the riders, but everyone who has supported and worked on this Tour de France for one year, two years," Cavendish said.
"I normally celebrate by going out and going crazy, but I just want to be with everyone and realise what we've done. I'm very lucky to have an incredible team in Astana Qazaqstan, an incredible group of friends and teammates, and, particularly, an incredible family.
"I'm so thankful that [my family are] here. They came over last night and they were here at the start and finish today and it always means so much when they're at the race when I can win as well."
Cavendish celebrates Tour de France stage win number 35 with his five children on the podium in Saint-Vulbas (Image credit: Getty Images)
Cavendish, who has five children with his wife Peta, all of whom were present at the start and finish of the stage, said he was overjoyed to be able to see them, noting that he's spent maybe three weeks at home since this year.
"Everybody has put a lot into this," he said. "When you've got five children and your wife's bringing them up and making sure they live a normal life while dad's away, it's pretty special, you know? They've been supporting me the whole time.
"For them to be able to come over and share this moment, I think any father will be able to testify how special it is. What's the point in doing anything unless you can share it with those people close to you – your family and, in particular, your children? I'm very fortunate to be able to get that privilege today."
'I'm proud that I could at least get to call them competitors before I hang up my wheels'
His goodwill extended far beyond his teammates and family, however. Cavendish, the third oldest man in the race behind Jakob Fuglsang and his own lead-out Michael Mørkøv (and now the second-oldest Tour stage winner in history), is 19 years the senior of the youngest men he shares a peloton with.
He's of a different generation to many of his current peers in the Tour peloton – including yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, who said that Cavendish jokingly asked him not to take his new record – and he said that he feels a great privilege to be able to share the road with the riders he does. Rivals for now, but racers he'll cheer on when he calls time on his own career come the end of the season.
"I'm very fortunate to be able to share the peloton now, in my final years, with riders that I'll continue to be fans of when I stop riding," Cavendish said. "I'll watch them on TV, I'll cheer them on. To be able to know that I can know them as a person beforehand as a competitor puts me in a privileged position.
"Everybody's been so nice in the last few days. Most riders have said 'I hope you can win a stage here'. It gets me really gets me emotional.
"We've got an incredible group of bike riders in the men's and women's peloton in 2024 and that's the future of our sport. Like I said before, I'm proud that I could at least get to call them competitors before I hang up my wheels."
But now, for another 17 days of racing – from Mâcon to Dijon on Thursday, to Troyes, Pau, painful final rendezvous in the Pyrenees and Alps – he'll be firmly locked into competitor mode once more.
After all, he may have made the record his own with 35 stage wins, but why stop there? And he's ambitious for his teammates who have helped him so much, too.
"First and foremost, I'll try and enjoy it and secondly we'll try and be successful again because that's fundamentally our job," Cavendish said. "I love this race, I always have loved this race. I love this race when I ride, I love this race when I watch it, and I'll always give it 100%.
"So, we'll continue to do that and we'll continue to try in bunch sprints with myself and my lead-out. And we'll continue to try in the other stages to get a breakaway with Harold [López] and Luts [Alexey Lutsenko] and those guys that can win a stage. Astana Qazaqstan has the ability to win a number of stages here so we'll try our best to do that.
"It's not going to be easy for a sprinter to survive the whole way but we'll try to do everything we can to try and do that and arrive at the spectacular time trial from Monaco to Nice in two-and-a-half weeks."
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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
