Maybe Geraint Thomas summed up Mark Cavendish’s record-breaking Tour de France stage win – quantity 35 at Saint-Vulbas – greatest. “To see what he did right now, 16 years after his first Tour stage, is nearly unbelievable,” he wrote in an Instagram publish. “Nevertheless it’s Cav. Nothing’s unbelievable”.
Actually the 39-year-old has made a profession of proving doubters mistaken. His longevity is exceptional, his dedication to his artwork unwavering, particularly if you suppose the person he surpassed yesterday as the best Tour winner, Eddy Merckx, retired at 32. Cav momentarily did the identical however the want to go Mercxk, to realize immortality, noticed him go once more. The doubters joined him, solely to be silenced as soon as extra.
Comfortably the best sprinter of his technology earlier than the beginning in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and now, the perfect of all time, every win, certainly his whole profession, has been achieved by mixing chic pace and bike dealing with expertise, with tactical nous, bravery and quaint dedication. However after all he wanted a dependable steed to hold him throughout the road, and the bikes he’s ridden to victory have turn out to be a part of his lore.
Right here’s a take a look at six of the perfect, every chosen to indicate a milestone within the Manx Missile’s great profession that is nonetheless going sturdy.
2008 Big TCR Superior – First Grand Tour stage win
(Picture credit score: Tim De Waele (Photograph by Tim De Waele/Getty Photos))
2008 Giro d’Italia, Stage 4 – First Grand Tour stage win
Crew: Crew Excessive Street
Bike: Big TCR Superior
Solely two years into his skilled profession Cavendish was already a sprinter to be reckoned with. He’d equalled Alessandro Petacchi’s report for many victories in a debut season and notched a few successes on the Belgian semi-classic Scheldeprijs. By Might of 2008 he’d taken his win tally to 16. What he hadn’t but achieved nevertheless was to cross the road first at a Grand Tour stage.
He took care of enterprise on the 2008 Giro d’Italia, a win that started his love affair, and sprinting dominance, of three-week stage races. Stage 4 was a 183km jaunt from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare. Within the colors of Crew Excessive Street, he gained in a bunch dash, as he would do repeatedly, however the lumpy stage was additionally an early perception into his willingness to undergo with the intention to put himself in place to win.
The bike he achieved this primary Grand Tour stage win on was a model new machine, with Big overhauling the TCR Superior forward of the ’08 season. Alongside the up to date carbon frameset, Cavendish’s bike was dripping in Shimano Dura-Ace from the deep-section wheels to the pedals to the groupset itself, which featured rim brakes after all.
2009 Scott Addict SL – Milan – San Remo
(Picture credit score: Photograph by Tim De Waele/Getty Photos)
2009 Milan – San Remo – First and solely Monument
Crew: Colombia – Excessive Street
Bike: Scott Addict SL
Rating Cavendish’s wins is not any straightforward activity however his victory on the 2009 Milan-San Remo may simply be his biggest. Successful any considered one of biking’s 5 Monuments is a profession defining second for any bicycle owner however Cav’s triumph in La Classicissima was significantly particular.
He’s since likened the race to an opera and the comparability is sensible. Properly over 100 years previous and the longest of the Monuments at over 300km, it’s a gradual, brooding drama, punctuated by dozens of seemingly inconsequential moments whose significance is barely understood upon reflection, in the end constructing to a crescendo on the Through Roma. In 2009 it was no completely different.
Whereas stills of the end will present Cav piping Henrich Haussler to the road by a nanosecond you could replay the previous few hundred metres to seize the win in all its glory, with Cav remarkably managing to shut a major hole after the German had jumped clear with about 250 metres to go. Like a lot of his wins it was a measure of each his pace and his will.
And the profitable bike? A Scott Addict SL that apparently included a couple of extra layers of carbon to the underside bracket for larger stiffness. It was geared up with Shimano Dura-Ace 7900, which had been launched that yr, however using SRM energy meters required staff Columbia-Excessive Street to make use of the older 7800 crankset for compatibility causes.
2011 Specialised McLaren Venge – Worlds
(Picture credit score: Bryn Lennon/Getty Photos)
2011 World Championships highway race – First Brit to win since ’65
Nice Britain
Specialised S-Works McLaren Venge with Shimano
Cavendish’s profession won’t solely be measured by the sheer quantity of his wins but additionally by the breadth of high quality. The rainbow stripes have alluded many greats however not Cav, together with his victory within the males’s highway race in Copenhagen added one other layer of gloss to each his palmares and his legend.
Unsurprisingly he captured the title in a dash, holding off the bunch that featured the likes of Matt Goss, André Greipel and Fabian Cancellara. Serving to to place him in place that day was a dream staff that included Bradley Wiggins, Chris Frome, Geriant Thomas, Steve Cummings and David Millar. In profitable the highway race he turned the primary Brit to take action since Tom Simpson in 1965.
The win was additionally important for the bike used – a Specialised S-Works McLaren Venge that Cav had debuted at that yr’s Milan-San Remo. Designed at the side of the motor racing specialists it put him on a devoted aero bike, one of many first sprinters to make the swap. A lot of McLaren’s focus went into the carbon layup used, with the outcome a frameset that weighed 20% much less that the common Venge however was considerably stiffer, significantly within the backside bracket space.
2013 Specialised McLaren Venge – a hundredth win
(Picture credit score: LUK BENIES/AFP through Getty Photos)
2013 Giro d’Italia, Stage 12 – a hundredth profession win
Crew: Omega Pharma – Fast Step
Bike: Specialised McLaren Venge with SRAM
After a yr using for Crew Sky Cav joined the Omega Pharma – Fast Step staff. Having gained six Grand Tour levels with Sky – three on the Giro and three extra on the le tour, together with his fourth straight win on the ultimate stage on the Champs-Élysées – he was closing in on 100 profession wins.
A fast begin to the yr, the place he gained 4 levels of the Tour Qatar on technique to wrapping up the final classification, had him heading into the 96th version of the Giro simply 4 wins wanting the century mark. He sealed the deal on Stage twelfth, profitable a bunch dash at Treviso. He gained one other stage – his fifth of the race – serving to him wrap up the ciclamino factors jersey for the primary time in his profession. It additionally meant he’d accomplished the set, having already gained the equal classification on the Tour de France and the Vuelta, making him solely the fifth rider in historical past to realize this feat.
Using for Fast Step additionally meant reuniting with Specialised – and notably the McLaren Venge. Nevertheless, apart from the frameset, it was a vastly completely different bike than the one he’d used to such impact in 2011. Whereas HTC had ridden Shimano parts, and its subsidiary PRO, the Belgian staff have been sponsored by SRAM. This noticed Cav utilizing its flagship groupset Crimson, which in these days was nonetheless mechanical in contrast to the Dura-Ace 7970 he utilized in 2011. It additionally meant a pair of Zipp 808 Firecrest wheels, a Zipp cockpit and Look Keo Blade pedals. Apparently this mix of parts noticed his Venge shed some weight from the 2011 iteration, dropping beneath the 7kg mark.
2021 Specialised Tarmac SL7 – Equals Merckx
(Picture credit score: Chris Graythen/Getty Photos)
2021 Tour de France, Stage 13 – equals Eddy Merckx’s report of 34 stage wins
Crew: Deceuninck – Fast Step
Bike: Specialised S-Works Tarmac SL7
A cursory look at biking’s report books sees one identify seem with larger frequency than another – Eddy Merckx. To problem any of the Belgians long-standing achievements requires not solely otherworldly expertise on the bike however longevity too. Thankfully Cavendish has each.
Merckx’s report of 34 Tour de France stage wins appeared protected for a few years. However Cav’s proficiency on the world’s greatest bike race noticed him chip away on the quantity yr by yr. However, after 2016, the place he gained one other 4 levels to take his complete to 30, the effectively ran dry. He crashed out in 2017, missed the time lower on Stage 11 in 2018 and wasn’t chosen to race in both 2019 or 2020, his progress slowed by a mix of poor well being, strained relationships and a world pandemic.
Nevertheless, reuniting with Fast Step in 2021 led to a sporting comeback for the ages. Largely written off as previous his prime, he changed injured teammate Sam Bennett simply ten days earlier than the Grand Depart and proceeded to roll again the years. He gained levels 4, 6 and 10 earlier than equalling Merckx’s report with a win on stage 13 at Carcassonne.
(Picture credit score: DAVID STOCKMAN/BELGA MAG/AFP through Getty Photos)
The profitable bike was one other Specialised, this time the S-Works Tarmac SL7. Whereas away using for different groups Cav’s beloved Venge had been retired by the US model. Instead got here the revamped Tarmac, which adopted a number of the Venge’s watt-saving properties to create an aero all-rounder that the Specialised sponsored groups might trip day in, time out, regardless of the parcours.
The Tarmac was freshly up to date for 2021 – the SL6 turned the SL7 – and noticed the bike incorporate utterly inside cable routing for the primary time in addition to changing into disc brake solely. Cav’s profitable bike featured a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset in addition to Roval Rapide CLX wheels, fitted with S-Works cotton clinchers – the Wolfpack had made a team-wide transfer from tubs initially of the season.
2024 Wilier Filante SLR – passes Merckx with thirty fifth stage win
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
2024 Tour de France, Stage 5 – report thirty fifth stage win
Crew: Astana Qazaqstan Crew
Bike: Wilier Filante SLR
When Cavendish crashed out of the 2023 Tour it appeared probably – to the lots a minimum of – that his pursuit of stage win quantity 35 was over. However a yr later, there he was once more on the Grand Depart. Supported by an Astana staff constructed round him and his objective, and buoyed by an intensive block of coaching in Greece with Vasilis Anastopoulos, Cavendish appeared quietly assured.
His first probability of victory, Stage 3 to Turin, was dashed as he received held up by a crash within the remaining stretch. He wasted no time nevertheless, profitable the following dash alternative in exceptional vogue. It was classic Cav in some ways. With out his regular lead out man Michael Mørkøv he was compelled to improvise; the overhead pictures present him expertly transferring from one wheel to the following earlier than launching a dash that nobody might comply with. It was a chic efficiency, becoming of the second.
The bike is becoming too. For this yr’s Tour, Cav’s Wilier SLR is decked out in a paint job that celebrates his unbelievable profession. The entrance finish contains a placing mix of colors, every a signifier; inexperienced to symbolize the factors jersey he is gained twice, yellow to symbolize the maillot jaune and blue and crimson to symbolise his 2011 World Champs title.
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos / Tim de Waele)
The colors proceed with additions of yellow and lightweight blue on the decals of hisVision Metron wheelset, in addition to the total quote referenced above on the Wilier built-in cockpit. His bike is accomplished with a 12-Velocity Dura-Ace groupset (and sure, his chain did come off once more throughout his record-breaking dash for the road), Vittoria Corsa Professional tires and a few non-team sponsor additions – Elite Chrono CX bidons and a traditional Fizik Arione saddle.
