Tour de France stage 5: Mark Cavendish Secures Historic Victory

3 days ago

Sportzhub

Mark Cavendish etched his name in the Tour de France history books by breaking the “stage wins record” with a sensational sprint finish on Stage 5 in Saint Vulbas. The 39-year-old Brit took his 35th victory in the great race, surpassing the legendary Eddy Merckx.

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar retained the leader's yellow jersey, holding a 45-second lead ahead of Remco Evenepoel in the General Classification standings, with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard 50 seconds off Pogacar.

On what is expected to be his final Tour, Cavendish sprinted clear and celebrated his win by raising his arms in triumph. This remarkable achievement comes just a year after Cavendish suffered a Tour-ending crash.

“It’s hard to fully grasp this success, but we worked towards it, and as a team, we did everything possible to make it happen,” commented Cavendish. “We have an incredible team, and I have amazing teammates. Throughout not just this Tour de France but all this time, I felt immense support from the entire team, and today we have the moment to celebrate this success together. I am very happy to be part of Astana Qazaqstan Team, where I found friends and, essentially, an incredible family. Today, the team was magnificent, everything was done perfectly, and I managed to win. I believed in success, but the main thing is that the team believed in success, we were on the same wavelength and had a common goal. I received maximum support, and we purposefully worked towards the goal we achieved today.”

Stage 5 results
1/ - Mark Cavendish (GB/Astana-Qazaqstan) 4hrs 08mins 46secs

2/ - Jasper Philipsen (Bel/Alpecin-Deceuninck) same time

3/ - Alexander Kristoff (Nor/Uno-X) "

4/ - Arnaud de Lie (Bel/Lotto-dstny) "

5/ - Fabio Jakobsen (Ned/DSM-firmenich-PostNL) "

6/ - Pascal Ackermann (Ger/Israel Premier Tech) "

7/ - Arnaud Demare (Fra/Arkea-B&B Hotels) "

8/ - Gerben Thijssen (Bel/Intermarche–Wanty) "

9/ - Biniam Girmay (Eri/Intermarche-Wanty) "

10/ - Marijn van den Berg (Ned/EF Education-EasyPost) "

General classification after stage 5
1/ - Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 23hrs 15mins 24secs

2/ - Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) +45secs