If I'm good enough never to win again here, so be it." How it unfolded If I'm good enough to win 50 more, I'm good enough to win 50 more. I'm very, very happy, that's all I've got to say. That's what people work their whole lives for. If that was my first stage or if that was my 32nd stage, I'd just won a stage of the Tour. Again, I just won a stage of the Tour de France. The victory will inevitably prompt interest in Cavendish potentially beating Eddy Merckx's Tour de France record of 34 stage wins, a record that had for several years looked like an impossible feat for Cavendish to achieve, but now looks increasingly attainable.Ĭavendish remains reluctant to talk about that, however, batting back allusions to the record asked in the post-race interview by joking: "Don't say the name, don't say the name!" The world champion Julian Alaphilippe just burying himself in the last kilometre, that's so special." You see the guys, you see how much they work all day. So I had to switch trains and go from there. The wind was coming from the right, and Michael left the left-hand side for me to go, but I wanted just a split second longer in the wheels before I went. "As usual it was the other team that shared the work with us, Alpecin-Fenix, who came with the strongest team in the end.
So to take it on is a big ask, you always get swamped at the finish. "We were talking about what to do in the final because there are so many strong sprint teams here all wanting to go for the front. Once again he had his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammates to thank, who took control of the peloton 2km from the finish with Julian Alaphilippe, and later Davide Ballerini and Michael Mørkøv completing the lead-out.
"It's been ten years since I last won here. In 2011, it was still uphill a bit but it was short from the finish. In 2008 it was uphill a bit, and I think it was further down the road. "It seems like every time we finish here it's been a different line. In fact, this is the third Tour stage Cavendish has won in Châteauroux, having also done so in 2011, and in the post-race interview, he compared the different approaches to the finish. Both Philipsen and Merlier sprinted for the line, but Cavendish proved quicker than both and had the presence of mind to place his hands onto his head in an apparent reference to how he celebrated his victory here in Châteauroux 13 years ago, in 2008.
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