The curtain may have come down on Mark Cavendish’s illustrious career after he rode his last Tour de France stage in Nice on Sunday in what was “likely so” his final race before retirement, however, he should be back racing - albeit not competitively - as soon as this week in two of the ‘post-Tour crits’.
It was a fairytale goodbye for Cavendish in his 15th and final Tour de France, after he broke the stage win record he shared with Eddy Merckx on stage 5 into Saint-Vulbas and survived all the way to finish stage 21, where he had his own podium ceremony to recognise his legendary career.
Set to bring joy to Dutch fans, Cavendish was announced to be starting at the criteriums in Chaam on Wednesday, July 24 and Heerlen on Friday, July 26, by event organisers, who were delighted at his participation.
"This is great for us and for the spectators who will soon come to Heerlen. With special thanks to Jos van de Mortel. Without him, the deal with Cavendish would never have been successful,” revealed organiser Chris Tiekstra, praising Van de Mortel - the owner of team Parkhotel Valkenburg for helping with fees.
“Cavendish won the sprint on July 3 and thus reached a legendary number of 35 Tour victories. But he also won 17 stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Tour of Spain. A true cycling great who also competed in Heerlen in 2008.”
He’ll be joined on the start line in Heerlen by Dutch Astana Qazaqstan teammate Cees Bol and breakthrough rider Frank van den Broek, after he netted a famous 1-2 for DSM-Firmenich PostNL on the Tour’s opening stage alongside Romain Bardet.
The criteriums are a long-running tradition in the week following the Tour having gotten started on Monday, the day after the Tour finished, in Boxmeer and Aalst, where stage winners Dylan Groenewegen and Victor Campenaerts repeated their success with ‘wins’.
They serve as more of an exhibition for the public to enjoy than actual races, far from anything UCI official, with jersey winners from the Tour riding in their famous jerseys and often taking the ‘win’ and a nice appearance fee for taking part.
Post-Tour de France 2024 criteriums
July 22, Boxmeer: 1 Dylan Groenewegen, 2 Mike Teunissen, 3 Wout Poels
July 22, Aalst: 1 Victor Campenaerts, 2 Jasper Philipsen, 3 Biniam Girmay
July 23, Surhuisterveen: Tadej Pogačar, Jasper Philipsen, Bauke Mollema...
July 23, Roeselare: Mathieu van der Poel, Biniam Girmay, Yves Lampaert...
July 24, Chaam: Mark Cavendish, Biniam Girmay, Olav Kooij...
July 25, Wateringen: Jasper Philipsen, Marijn van den Berg, Frank van den Broek...
July 25, Herentals: Biniam Girmay, Arnaud De Lie, Steff Cras...
July 26, Heerlen: Mark Cavendish, Frank van den Broek, Cees Bol...
July 27, Maarheeze: Mike Teunissen, Cees Bol, Danny van Poppel...
July 28, Emmen: Dylan Groenewegen, Marianne Vos, Mischa Bredewold...
July 29, Roosendaal: Biniam Girmay, Bauke Mollema, Dylan Groenewegen
