In 2024, Mark Cavendish mission is clear: break Eddy Merckx’s Tour de France stage win record. In my opinion, Mark Cavendish is the best sprinter ever. He’s already equaled Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins during the 2021 Tour de France. After bad luck at the Tour de France in 2023, he is seeking to surpass this historic milestone at the 2024 Tour de France.
However, I think various factors will hinder his pursuit. Namely his age, the increased competition amongst the sprinters field and a lack of chemistry with his Astana teammates.
But Cavendish has already started 2024 with a bang at the Tour de Colombia, so I may be wrong! Do you think Mark Cavendish will break the record in the face of these obstacles? Let’s talk about it.
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00:00 – Cav’s First 2024 Win And Breakdown
02:50 – Let’s Talk About Cav
05:15 – Does It Matter?
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Mark Cavendish will not get his 35th stage victory at this year’s Tour of France I repeat Mark Cavendish will not get his 35th stage victory at the tour to France I know I’m sorry to the members in the community to the members of the community um that live in the UK
I know you probably are cursing at the screen at me right now but hear me out we’ll get to why I believe that in a second we are starting what you’re seeing on the screen right now we’re starting with the tour of Columbia uh Mark Cavendish most recent
Victory cuz you guys know uh we like to go over race analysis a little bit of race breakdown so that you guys can improve when you are racing and I’ll just let it play out this first time here for those who have not seen the
Finish this was just a few days ago so pretty recent Mark Cavendish first victory of the Year early in the year which is very important for the confidence and we’re going to rent it back so we can break down what happened good thing is Mark now has a lead out
Train I believe that’s lenko at the front uh Michael morkov and then CES bow behind him and then Mark Cavendish so he’s got about three guys um that he can hide behind until the very last minute we see marov does a pretty quick pull here I would like to see him a little
Closer to the barriers but maybe he is avoiding that because the of the barriers are poking out who knows uh but they have time to tighten up this lead out train good thing for Mark cesb here last lead out man for him good thing for
Mark he only had cess bow last year now he has two other guys we see Mark look over to his right he’s the right or go he shoots the Gap here as the smart Sprinter as he is he needs to jump you can see a little cheeky move that he
Does against gavia pretty dangerous unnecessary in my opinion what do you guys think about that um but it’s enough to make cavaria think for a quick second which gives uh Mark Cavendish The Edge that he needs to to finish Believe It or Not Fernando gavia has beaten Mark
Cavendish uh 20 times he has 21st Place victories to mark cavendish’s five in their head-to-head competitions where when they’re in the same race inav actually won stage one of this race so maybe that’s why Mark felt it was NE necessary to do a little Savvy move
There not sure you guys let me know how you feel about that in the in the comment section good thing for Mark is gav is not going to be at the tour he’s not slated to be there yet that could change still early um but if he’s not
There that is one less um Sprinter that he needs to a formidable Sprinter that he needs to compete against let’s get into why I think Mark Cavendish isn’t going to get his 35th victory at the tour to front I believe Mark Cavendish is trending in the wrong direction this was his first
Win since the jural of 2023 and he had five wins in 2022 and last year in 2023 that Geral win was his lone win of the season now say what you want um he didn’t have a lead out what have you um but that victory at the jural de Italia was
Against I would say B and C Level Sprint Talent no knock on C he still won but for me it wasn’t really against the top talent so um I think he’s training in the right trending in the wrong direction now what may change my opinion
On whether or not I believe he will get the 35th victory at the tour to France is how he does at the upcoming UAE tour UAE tour I know you guys are probably thinking why would we watch that but I think it’s something you need to mark on
Your calendars because at that tour there’s going to be Dylan Groner wagen Olive kou um from yumo visma good young Sprinter Fabio yakobson is going to be there Tim mer is going to be there and Mark Cavendish isn’t even listed as a top competitor uh which in my opinion I
Think is either disrespectful or completely accurate depiction of where Mark cavages currently is in his career let me know what you guys think there but if Cav does well this is a great early season test for Mark Cavendish and his lead off train Mark Cavendish does
Well at the UAE tour I think that gives him a huge increase in confidence uh going into the tour to France now even if he does well at the UAE tour it may not matter guys because we all saw what yasper Phillipson did last year Jasper was undoubtedly the best Sprinter in
Last year’s tour France and we also need to ask ourselves is Michael morkov at the age of 38 a better lead out man than Matthew Vanderpool I would say no no the second thing we need to ask is does Mark Cavendish at this point in his career
Have enough pop to come around yper Phillipson I would say no based on what we’ve seen so far and one thing I was thinking guys is does this 35th Victory even matter does it matter for Mark Cavendish I don’t believe it does I don’t believe if Mark Cavendish gets the
35th stage victory at the tour to France that he is seeking I don’t think it does much for his career I think the guy has 163 victories in his career I think it will definitely solidify his legacy at the tour to France but overall I don’t
Think a 35th stage Victory does much for Mark Kish Legacy in sport I think he’s regarded as probably the best Sprinter ever but let me know what you guys think if you disagree if you think that he needs this to solidify his career um but I just wanted to go over this really
Quickly and share with you why I do not think Mark Kev is going to get his 35th Victory and I look forward to reading your comments
12 Comments
Do YOU think Cavendish will break Eddy Merckx's record this year?🤔
Only if someone "gifts" him a stage in the tour. Which they won't LoL
Don’t underestimate the power of media headlines. It wouldn’t surprise me if they managed to stage one of the sprints for him to do it, even though he isn’t as strong as the other sprinters. A good Tour story is great for the sponsors and to be honest, I thought it was heading that way before he came a cropper in the last one… 🤔
Good analysis. I think Cav is played out for TDF wins. But, anything can happen in the Tour. So, I would say that his next TDF win is in the hands of his competition, in that if a few sprinters drop/crash out, or (like it appears Gaviria did here) don't give all in the last 50 meters, letting him get the win without actually gifting it to him.
But Merckx and Cav are two completely different riders with not much in common in terms of race tactics. So yeah, like you say, not sure it really matters…except to the media.
While Cav is strong, even at his peak, he has never been the "strongest" sprinter and has rather relied heavily on his ability to read races and know the perfect time to launch his sprint with a perfect 5 second acceleration. I just don't know who in the current peloton would be able to match his ability to know the exact time to launch and now having morkov, he really has a shot, I would say at least on par with last year.
If not for a badly timed mechanical in last year's TDF, Cavendish would have already broken the record so saying it absolutely won't happen is silly. He appears to be in better shape this year than last, albeit a year older. I believe he certainly has an even shot to break that record.
There is a long way to go until the Tour. The form here can’t be an indicator for how he will be in June.
Cav is used to peaking and building for the Tour. If you look at his 2021 year when he got 4 wins, he didn’t win his first race until APRIL.
So don’t think Tour of Colombia can be any indicator at all for how he fares in the Tour.
This is just a click bait video.
You know this because?
What you don't mention, is Cav's timing. He's not the strongest but he has the snap and timing as a sprinter.
Very hard against Jasper Phillipsen, but anything is possible. I wouldn't rule him out AT ALL
I think he will win 2 stages
I think cav will win 3 stages in this years tour