Never write off Mark Cavendish. Whenever you do, he will simply prove you wrong time and time again, as he has always done throughout his stellar career.
Cavendish postponed his retirement last autumn in order to return to the Tour de France, a race he has thrived in since 2008, in an attempt to break the all-time stage win record that he shared with Belgian cycling great, Eddy Merckx. The duo were tied on 34 victories apiece until Cavendish jumped one clear, taking a sensational 35th stage win in Saint-Vulbas on Wednesday afternoon.
The Manxman used his stage winner's press conference to pay tribute to his Astana Qazaqstan teammates and his family - who were present at the finish line - and to have one final pop at the sceptics who, in his view, never believed in his ability to still be competitive at cycling’s top level.
"Of course people didn't believe I could win another stage of the Tour," Cavendish said. "That's because they don't know what it takes to win a stage of the Tour. If everybody knew what you had to do in a sprint it would make my job even harder. There will always be people who try to take away from what I’ve done here."
"I don't really know," he added when asked by one reporter how he would celebrate his monumental achievement. "I just want to see my boys, my teammates, the people that have been there, not just the riders but everyone that's supported me and worked on this Tour de France for one year, two years with me.
"I don't really celebrate by going out and going crazy, I just want to be with everyone and realise what we’ve done together.
"I'm very lucky to have an incredible team at Astana, an incredible group of friends and teammates and particularly an incredible family. I'm so thankful they came over last night and were here with me at the start and finish today. It always means so much more when they’re here at the race, and when they’re here I feel like I can win as well."
Cavendish’s performance in the final kilometre was the Briton at his absolute best. As the peloton thundered into the finishing straight, it became clear that he was the only Astana rider at the front end of the bunch meaning that he’d have to go it alone in order to stand a chance of victory.
The 39-year-old hopped onto the wheel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprint train, taking advantage of their momentum, before launching a trademark sprint which left Jasper Philipsen floundering in his wake.
"I just followed," Cavendish said in his typical analytical style as he debriefed the final kilometre with journalists. "I saw Alpecin come and I knew they had numbers so I thought I'll go with them. I knew Jasper Philipsen would be there, but you can't really predict which way he goes, you have to kind of wait for him to jump and then go with him, so that's what I did.
"Sometimes I know the final and I go through it in my head. I stay calm and I trust in my boys and know I'm in with the best shot."
Cavendish has spent months away from home at training camps, early-season races and further altitude camps in the Sierra Nevada before heading to the Tour this year. He explained that finally sealing the deal and taking win number 35 made all of his sacrifices worthwhile.
"I think I've been home less than three weeks this year, [I've] just been away, training and racing. But it's not just me, my teammates have been away training and racing too. Everybody's put a lot into this. When you have five children, your wife is bringing them up making sure they live a normal life while dad's away, so it's pretty special. For them to be able to come over yesterday and share this moment, I think any father would be able to testify how special that is."
With more than two weeks still to go of racing, it’s perfectly plausible that he could triumph again. Cavendish said he would still aim to be competitive and challenge for further victories as the Tour continues.
"First and foremost I’ll try to enjoy it and secondly I'll try to be successful again because that's fundamentally our job. I love this race, I always have loved this race. I love this race when I ride it, I love this race when I watch it and I'll always give it 100%.
"I’ll continue to do that and I’ll continue to try in bunch sprints. It’s not going to be easy for a sprinter to survive the whole way but I’ll give it everything."
