"If he didn't believe he could write history, he would have stopped" - Mark Cavendish's coach confident in his rider's stage winning hopes

Mark Cavendish will make one last attempt at taking sole ownership of the Tour de France stage win record in 2024. Having initially announced plans to retire at the end of the 2023 campaign, the 'Manx Missile' has extended his Astana Qazaqstan Team contract for one further year.

Cavendish's new coach at Astana will be Vasilis Anastopoulos. In an interview with the Portuguese Cycling Magazine, Anastopoulos gave an insight into the legendary sprinter's mindset ahead of next season. “When we agreed that I would join the team on a 3-year contract, Mark announced that he would continue next year. It was a very good surprise for us,” he recalls.

“Next year it is no secret that we will try to be protagonists in the sprints. In the Tour de France we will go through the flat stages with Cavendish," continues Anastopoulos. “We don’t do anything out of the ordinary [in training]. We focus on building endurance and then we work a lot on sprints, because what he needs to win a race is to arrive at the finish line as strong as possible; This is what we will try to do from December onwards.”

Now aged 38, there is some doubt as to whether Cavendish can compete with the new generation of sprinters such as most notably, Jasper Philipsen. For Anastopoulos however, there is no doubt. "The competition will be of a very high level, as always happens in the Tour de France. Mark's level last year was very good and we will try to improve a little more so that it is enough for the Tour de France. We want to make sure Mark gets there in the best condition," he analyses. “He is a great champion, a great fighter. If he didn't believe he could write history, he would have stopped riding.”