The day after Tadej Pogacar’s demonstration in the Galibier, which allowed him to retake the yellow jersey, the Tour de France peloton returned to the plain this Wednesday, July 3, for the fifth stage between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Saint-Vulbas, in Ain. Briton Mark Cavendish proved to be the fastest in a mass sprint.
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Mark Cavendish won ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) and Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X). With this 35th victory, the 39-year-old Astana sprinter has one more victory than the great Eddy Merckx with whom he shared the record until then.
After his victory, he was congratulated by half the peloton before falling into the arms of his wife and children. He had to abandon last year because of a broken collarbone after a fall during the 11th stage of what was to be his last Tour de France. But, driven by the ambition of holding this old record alone, he postponed his retirement, signing on for another year under the colours of his Kazakh team.
The 2011 world champion suffered a lot during the difficult first stages in Italy, to the point of vomiting on his bike. But the sprinter from the Isle of Man held on to make history this Wednesday in Ain for his 15th Tour de France. Cavendish, who won the Tour for the first time sixteen years ago, had not raised his arms there since his victory in Carcassonne in 2021.
“ I’m exhausted. It’s hard to be at the start of the Tour de France every year. I’m surrounded by my guys, my family and everyone has helped me. Life has taught me to show what I can do. I’m going to try to do it again tomorrow, it’s the Tour de France! For me, it’s the biggest sporting event in the world. “, declared the winner of the day on France 2.
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retains the yellow jersey at the end of this transition day without interest for the general classification. The climb back north continues on Thursday July 4 during the sixth stage of 163.5 km between Mâcon and Dijon.