"Not seeing the last 100 metres was probably for the best because I don’t know if my heart could have taken it" - Mark Cavendish's wife missed the historical 35th stage victory
Cycling
Turns out Peta Cavendish did not actually see the moment her husband Mark Cavendish won his record-breaking 35th career Tour de France stage. Yet somehow, she felt that it was about to happen on the fifth stage of the Tour de France.
"I find it very stressful, watching a sprint, it’s not something I’ve ever liked," Peta told the PA news agency. "I’m used to it now, but not seeing the last 100 metres was probably for the best because I don’t know if my heart could have taken it. We’d had a feeling all day. There’s only a few times I can say I’ve had that feeling from the beginning of the day to the end."
Twelve months after Mark crashed out of what was supposed to be his final Tour, everything finally clicked in Saint Vulbas. "I was so relieved," Peta said. "Not because we had the record. Everything that everybody had worked for had come together... There were always going to be more opportunities but there was relief it was done. As much as you can enjoy the suffering of the next two-and-a-half weeks, he could try to enjoy his last Tour de France knowing he’d achieved what he set out to achieve."
Planning for this moment began almost the moment Mark broke his collarbone on stage eight of last year’s Tour. "He wasn’t great, but better than I thought he was going to be," she recalled. "He was like: 'What do I do now?' I looked at him and said: 'I think we know what we do now'. He just said, 'I don’t know, I don’t know'."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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