FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Mark Cavendish must have a big circle around Monday’s third stage of the Tour de France . The mostly flat 231-kilometer (144-mile) leg from Piacenza to Turin likely represents the race's first chance of a mass sprint finish. That means it’s an opportunity for Cavendish to break one of the Tour’s most hallowed records.
Cavendish equaled Eddy Merckx’s mark of 34 stage wins during the 2021 Tour and went close to winning a 35th on the seventh stage in 2023. He crashed during the eighth stage last year, breaking his right collarbone. He then put off retirement by a year to come back to the Tour and try again at breaking his tie with Merckx.
There will be at least a handful of other opportunities for sprinters in this year’s Tour, too, after the race crosses back into France following the first four stages in Italy. “It’s quite beautiful this year with the start in Florence, near where I lived for 10 years,” Cavendish said on Friday. “Starting here, then going to France is just perfect.
I’ve got a job to do but on an emotional level, it’s very, very nice. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I think I’m more ready now (for retirement) than I was last year.
I’m happy but I’m also so happy I carried on. “We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think it was possible to win,” the Astana rider added. “Realistically there are five or six chances, so we’ve come here to try to do it.
I think we’ve got everything in place to .
