Mark Cavendish makes history with his 35th stage win at the Tour de France. The 39-year-old Briton wins the bunch sprint of stage 5 in Saint Vulbas and is now the sole record holder.
Cavendish prevailed after 177.4 km in a chaotic sprint ahead of the Belgian Jasper Philipsen and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff. After his historic victory, the sprinter from the Isle of Man was congratulated by half of the peloton before falling into the arms of his wife and children.
Cavendish now has one more stage win at the Tour of France than Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx, with whom he had previously shared the record. "Cav" celebrated his first stage win at the Tour 16 years ago, his penultimate victory came in Carcassonne in 2021.
Last year, the Brit was forced to abandon the Tour de France due to a broken collarbone after crashing on stage 11, which was to be his last. However, inspired by the ambition to take sole possession of this record, he postponed his retirement until later and signed for another year with Team Astana.
Pogacar's showpiece
In the flat stage, Tadej Pogacar maintained the overall lead he had taken over the previous day without any problems. The lead of the top favorite from Slovenia over the Belgian Remco Evenepoel is still 45 seconds.
Pogacar experienced a scary moment 60 km before the finish. Passing a traffic island, the man in the maillot jaune narrowly escaped a crash with a great deal of skill. While Pogacar reacted with lightning speed and weaved his bike around the traffic divider, six riders fell immediately behind him. However, they were all able to continue the race.
The sprinters back in action on Thursday
Before the first of two individual time trials of this Tour de France is held on Friday, the sprinters will once again be in demand on Thursday. Stage 6 from Macon to Dijon is not too long at 163.5 km and the topography is only a little demanding in the first half of the race.
