Mark Cavendish has been tipped to extend his record number of stage wins in the Tour de France after pledging to make it all the way to the finish of this year's race.
Cavendish, 39, won the bunch sprint on stage five into Saint Vulbas on Wednesday to take the outright record of stage wins to 35 and eclipse the great Eddy Merckx in the process.
It was a fitting result after he had put on hold his retirement plans at the end of last season to sign a new one-year deal after coming so close to stage win 35 in last year's race before crashing out the next day.
Cavendish had looked a spent force in the early days of this year's Tour, raising questions about being able to match the fastest men in the world. But he timed his ride to perfection through the melee of sprinters to take an emotional win in front of his wife Peta and five children.
His former team-mate Geraint Thomas was among those to pay tribute to Cavendish and predicted yet more stage wins to come before the finale in Nice.
"I thought he could do it," said Thomas of the Tour record. "He always suffers, he always has a bad day in the mountains. He can get through it with a good team around him. He just has to be there and see the finish line. It's great that he's now officially got that record alone. I wouldn't put it past him to win another one."
Cavendish talked about the sacrifices he and his wife had made in the lead-up to the race, equating to him spending just three weeks at home in total this year.
And, in the process, he silenced any critics that suggested he was past his prime. He said: "Of course, there will be people who didn't believe I could win another stage of the Tour. But that's because they don't know what it takes to win a stage of the Tour. They'll say, 'It's an easy stage' or whatever. But we do what we can and that's all we can do.
"I'm in a little bit of disbelief. It was a big gamble to come here and try to win at least one stage. You have to go all in, and we have done it. You sprint, you go as hard as you can until you get to the finish line and maybe your life changes if you cross that line first, maybe it doesn't if you don't. That's the nature of this, and that's what makes it so beautiful."
Cavendish's win was testament to his remarkable longevity since picking up his first stage win in 2008.
His former team principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, said: "He walked into my office and declared that he was going to be the best sprinter in the world. I was a bit taken aback, but I shouldn't have been, because here he is, the best sprinter of all time. I cannot admire him more."
