"To have taken that win will mean so much, not just to him but his team as well" - Experts think Mark Cavendish's Tour de Hongrie is sign of better times to come
Cycling
It's not Mark Cavendish's first win of this season, but it's taken exactly three months since his Tour Colombia victory and many (inculding myself) were starting to lose hope that the Manx Missile can make the ends meet again. But with an impressive leadout from his Astana Qazaqstan train, he couldn't miss in stage 2 of Tour de Hongrie. Experts from Eurosport's The Breakaway analyze what will this win mean for the 38-year-old's confidence heading towards Tour de France in late June.
"That's a big statement, it's a few weeks away to the Tour de France now, and I was saying the other day - he kind of needed to make that statement, even if it was a third place or a second," Daniel Lloyd thinks.
Read also
It wouldn't happen without perfect work of Cavendish's teammates, notably Gleb Syritsa on the penultimate kilometer who significantly stretched the peloton. "To have taken that win will mean so much, not just to him but his team's confidence ahead of the big goals to come," Lloyd points out.
"The really important thing that I saw was the Astana lead-out, that was textbook, that will give all of them a lot of confidence," the Australian ex-sprinter star Robbie McEwen added. "They seemed to finally have it right, because it's taken this long in the season to really do a well-drilled lead-out, so that's a huge boost."
Read also

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.
claps 6visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
Loading
🇭🇺 WIN: @Tour_de_Hongrie What a nice win for the team and @MarkCavendish in Stage 2! #TourDeHongrie #AstanaQazaqstanTeam 📷 @SprintCycling
Write a comment







