Tour de France: Mark Cavendish survives Luz Ardiden with two chances to beat Merckx's record
British sprinter last at 𝓀thꦫe line but inside the time cut on last mountain stage

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mark Cavendish (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Deceuninck-QuickStep) may have finished last on the final stage in the Pyrenees at this year’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France but that mattered little when he finally crossed the line over 32 minutes down on stage 18 winner and race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
All that mattered for Cavendish was that he had made the time cu💞t and survived over the final mountains.
With just three stages left in this year’s race, including the showcase sprint stage into Paris on Sunday, Cavendish has two potential chances to beat Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour stage wins. He already equaled the incredible record earlier in the race and has four stage wins to ⛦his name already in this edi🏅tion of the Tour.
Cavendish survived stage 18 once again by 💖going deep on the climbs and thanks to the support of his teammates, with four Deceuninck-QuickStep riders pacing the sprinter up both the Col du Tou✨rmalet and then the final 13.2km ascent to Luz Ardiden.
Cavendish was put under pressure even before the climbing began when Team BikeExchange attempted to drop him before the intermediate sprint but he finished seven minutes🐻 inside the time limit for the stage.
“We could have got through a lot easier than that but we were already finished before the climb because of doing that intermediate sprint. The attack🍸s were going all day on the little uncategorized climbs and we knew that BikeExchange would go on the climb before the intermediate spꦿrint. I burned up so many matches there,” a relieved Cavendish said at the finish.
“We got to the Tourmalet, which is probably my worst climb in the Tour de France. I don’t know how many times we’ve done it, ten times maybe, but even before we got to it, I despise it. I was out the back but the lads were around me and they paced me up to the finish. I’m so grateful. I got a bit emoti𓂃onal there crossing the line, now it seems all the obstacles have gone and I can get to Paris."
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Asked about the possibility of Friday's flat stage to Libourne ending in a sprint finish so he can beat Merckx's record, Cavendish said: "I don't know... If there is a sprint, we'll try for i𝔉t but it's 205km and hard. I'd like my boys to be able to sit in the peloton, they deserve 🐟it."