ITV commentator Ned Boulting believes Mark Cavendish can triumph in Paris: "I can just see him doing it at Champs-Élysées"

Mark Cavendish has one simple goal as he heads to his final Tour de France. That is to win the 35th Tour de France stage in his career and become the sole record holder.

"He crashed in the most unimaginably violent and dramatic fashion," Ned Boulting, ITV’s lead commentator for the upcoming Tour, tells inews. "I thought that was the end of his career. It happened right in front of him, but he just picked himself up and walked away from it."

"And that was the moment I thought, 'hang on… the stars are aligning for Cavendish somehow in this race.' So it didn’t surprise me one bit that he left it until Stage 21 of the Giro to ride to that fantastic, dramatic victory in Rome."

"Honestly? I can see the same thing happening in France. He will just will it. It’ll be sheer force of will. I think that he may well spurn the first few opportunities and then a couple more chances will slip through his fingers, because the breakaway will stay away. It could all come down to Paris."

"Some of the other sprinters will be eliminated, so the field will be narrower. And I can just see him doing it on his final day of racing at the Tour de France on the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées."

"This edition of the Giro was one of the hardest in recent history, but he made it all the way through. Other sprinters were falling by the wayside one after the other. When they made it to the finish for the last stage in Rome, they were cooked, they were absolutely spent, but he somehow got stronger as the three weeks went on. And I think he’ll do that again in France."