"We never stopped believing that this would come true” - Self belief key for Mark Cavendish's historic 35th Tour de France win according to coach

The 3rd of July 2024 is a day that will live long in the memories of cycling fans after the greatest sprinter of all time, Mark Cavendish reaffirmed his status by finally claiming a historic 35th Tour de France stage win, moving clear of the great Eddy Merckx in the process as the most victorious rider in Tour history.

Whilst the Manxman made it look easy in Saint Vulbas, this win was off the back of much hard work over the last twelve months. Ever since crashing out of the 2023 Tour de France and subsequently postponing his retirement, Cavendish has been working with coach, Vasilis Anastopoulos, with the sole goal of making 'Project 35' a reality.

"A huge party tonight! A Greek party, that's for sure. We're going to smash a lot of plates at the hotel tonight. Vino [Alexandre Vinokourov, team manager] is going to pay a lot tonight, I can guarantee that," the Greek coach, Anastopoulos told reporters from outside the Astana Qazaqstan Team bus in the immediate aftermath of the historic win.

"His name is Markos Cavendishopolous," continues Anastopoulos, clearly full of pride and admiration in his rider. "At the beginning of April, he came to Greece with me. We spent three months in Greece in between the Tour of Turkey, Tour de Hungary and Tour de Suisse. We trained every day together, believed in the process – I can tell you that it was not an easy one. But we never stopped believing that this would come true.”

It's not unfair to say that most had written off the now 39-year-old Cavendish's chances ahead of this race. For Anastopoulos and his rider however, there was never any doubt that this was possible. "We started with our training camps already from December. I think in December, generally, he spent only four days at home. I hope he doesn't hate me for that," the coach laughs. "The data I had told me that he was capable of doing it. You saw today why he's such a big champion. He's 39 years old. Most of the guys said he's not going to make it. He proved them wrong in 2021, and then he proved everyone wrong again in 2024. He's just phenomenal."