🇫🇷 RACE: @LeTour @markcavendish (6th): "I am happy. It was not the best finish for me but I'm happy with my speed and my team. I am confident in both. We try again tomorrow." #TDF2023 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam
"I'm confident in my form" - Good signs for Mark Cavendish and he pursues Tour de France record
CyclingTuesday, 04 July 2023 at 11:16
Mark Cavendish has struggled quite a lot in the sprints this year, until the Giro d'Italia where in some stages he found good form, and eventually racing into a stage win. The opening sprint of the Tour de France was quite positive for the Manxman who was in the mix for the top positions.
“Yeah I'm happy with that. Ok, obviously, we'd like to win, but I'm happy with how the boys rode, I'm happy with the speed. You see the team are up there with more dialed teams, the teams that do it day-in, day-out," Cavendish told Eurosport at the end of stage 3. "We had a plan to get me at the front there, with 2km to go, into that u-turn, that's what the boys committed too, that's what they did perfect. So actually it was job complete there, it was just down to me trying to find the right wheels after that.”
Astana Qazaqstan Team have designated Cees Bol and Yevegeniy Fedorov to help in the chaotic sprints that are expected in France over this month, and he's managed to find good positioning last afternoon in Bayonne. With Alpecin-Deceuninck nailing the leadout and taking Jasper Philipsen to victory, Cavendish was only a few spots back, sprinting to sixth in the day.
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“I was OK. I'm happy with the speed, 500m to go, I wasn't even in the top-10, maybe 15th position. I'm happy with that. We said at the beginning that that's not the best kind of finish for me, it was more for someone like Jonathan Milan or Wout van Aert."
Today's finale into Nogaro will be again for the fast men to fight for, in a finale that is less technical, but instead more exposed and on wider roads of a racing track. Positioning won't likely be such a demanding task and more sprinters will have the opportunity to play their cards for a possible win.
“We'll try tomorrow (today, ed.). It's a different one, I've never finished on a motor racing circuit at the Tour. It's happened in other races, but it might be a bit different at the Tour. It's new for everyone. I'm quite looking forward to it, it'll be another flat day. I think the peloton will look forward to a flatter day tomorrow. Hopefully the wind is alright too. I'm confident in my form, I'm confident in the team, we look forward to the next sprint opportunities," he concluded.
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- Nonsense Mistermaumau. Tom has noticeably more character and personality than Mathieu. Look at the photograph with this article - when was the last time you saw Mathieu crack a smile like that?RupertBear17-12-2024
- Get over yourself! Tom is fine, he's quite a character in his way - he's got a great sense of humour for a start. Watch him and Matt Stephens do one of their cafe rides, they're both a hoot. I don't mind Mathieu, but he's a bit of a cold fish in case you haven't noticed. You guys make me laugh, you get a unique rider like Tom appears on the scene and all you can do is bitch! By the way Senna, your use of a comma and then the lack of a space between words is usually an indicator of ASD. Now I'm being bitchy!RupertBear17-12-2024
- Whining isn’t a good look, Lance. Oh and doping or not, the GOAT is still Eddy Merckx imho - lance couldn’t t even come close when you compare resultsCrashjames16-12-2024
- * not taking anything away from the tireless sacrifices wout has made as a superstar. those are two extraordinary individuals.OCexile16-12-2024
- sadly true. mathieu is the bedrock AD was built on, and he’s always shouldered that role and always seen the bigger picture: took MUCH less money than he could have gotten while the team was growing, and has written them new book on what it means to be a completely selfless superstar, witness every ferocious leadout for jasper and what he did at MSR last year. yup, so far that’s not thomas.OCexile16-12-2024
- ...you could also add diminuer,etiquette,basic PR skills and respect all of which Pidcock lacks in abundance.Senna196016-12-2024
- Just like Remco should have ;-)Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- And you base that on which vast amount of knowledge you have on him please?Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- Not only that but what MVDP did at AD had a lot to do with a personality that TP will never have.Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- i mean, duh, the ONLY reason for pidcock to be at Q36.5 is freedom and autonomy. vande velde has kind of an art for the obvious. but as far as the “you should do what van der poel did” advice goes, well, I’LL state the obvious: doing what mathieu did KINDA depends on being ABLE to do what mathieu did. if it didn’t then yeah, that would really be some terrific advice.OCexile16-12-2024