Quotes from the start of 2024 Tour de France stage 16 - Mark Cavendish, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen

Stage 16 of the Tour de France is a windy day by the Mediterranean coast into Nîmes where there can be differences in the wind, but ultimately a bunch sprint is expected. We take a look at the words of a few big candidates at the start of the day, including Mark Cavendish's praise for his teammates on stage 15.

Mark Cavendish (ITV Cycling): "With every last comes a first doesn't it? Like you said it's the last time perhaps that I will do a sprint at the Tour de France. We don't know if it'll be a sprint but obviously if it is... Makes another opportunity you know. We try that, we will try and win and in the future whether I'll be riding a bike or not I'll try to win more in whatever you do in life, just try and succeed. It's not the last of anything is it..."

"Absolutely, it's always been like that at the Tour de France when you fight through those mountains. There has to be something good on the other side, brcause I'll always fight in the Tour because I respect the race so much. It's the Tour de France. I've always said, with the suffering and the down moments, if you have something that is there to get you through it it always helps".

Regarding the finale today in Nîmes: "I think 2008 in my first Tour de France where I was winning. We finished here since then, we didn't have a sprint in [20]21 but it's the same kind of last 1.5k, Nils Politt won there, so we kinda know that we kinda remember it. Not different, but we're through a roundabout that day, and we go round it this time. Same for everyone isn't it, do your homework, we have five guys here and everybody's motivated to do what we can. Make go through the mountains worthwhile, whatever happens today, Sunday was more work, more impressive than any leadout in the history of cycling could've done. I'm super proud of those boys, super grateful, they were like machines.

Mathieu van der Poel (Wielerflits): “I think today is our last chance as a team. We have to do everything we can to try to sprint with Jasper [Philipsen]. Jasper is our biggest chance today. The goal has to be to put him in position for the stage win... I have already seen quite a few medals on my TrainingPeaks. But apparently that is not of much use in this Tour. But I think I am close to top form.”

Regarding stage 18 where he stands a chance of victory: “Not really. I haven’t really looked at the stage yet, but I think it is a stage with more than 3,000 meters of elevation. They call that a transition stage these days, but given the limited number of kilometers, it might be even more difficult than Liège-Bastogne-Liège. As I have said a few times: there are just very few opportunities. I think I can use that last week towards the Olympic Games. Last year it became clear that this brings me to a high level,” says the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, who hopes he can maintain his current feeling. I tested my legs a few times and I was actually quite satisfied with that. The Tourmalet in particular was one of the better climbs I have ever done. If I can test my legs a few more times and suffer a few more times by going up a climb, then I will be fine.”

Wout van Aert (ITV Cycling): "Of course, I think it's always been our strength the team spirit; that we want to race, that we want to do it together, it will be no different than the last week," he said on how to tackle the mountains and Tadej Pogacar. "Last Sunday we got beaten but in the end we also saw we were super strong as a team. We blew the race apart and we will use our strength this last week".

Does van Aert still stand a chance of winning a stage in this Tour? "I guess today and Thursday stage 18, ed.), tomorrow will be quite hard even from a breakaway, so yeah not much left".

Jasper Philipsen (Wielerflits): “After Sunday’s stage, my legs were stiff, it was a really tough stage. But yesterday I didn’t completely come to a standstill. I had a good rest day and today is another important day. We’re going to try to get the most out of it. I think the team will have one or two more chances this week. Among others with Mathieu, who is strong. For the rest, we’ll have to hang on and try to get to Nice. So we can’t blow it today.”

Regarding the points classification: “But you have to try to defend that second place, because you never know what will happen until Nice. As long as the race isn’t over, anything is still possible.”