Presented by NTT DATA
35: CAVENDISH PASSES MERCKX
Arguably the best sprinter in the history of cycling, Mark Cavendish now holds the record for most stage wins in the Tour de France, moving past Eddy Merckx, whose 34 victories stood since 5 July 1975. Here are the 5 riders with most stage wins in the history of the Tour:
- 35 Mark Cavendish
- 34 Eddy Merckx
- 28 Bernard Hinault
- 25 André Leducq
- 22 André Darrigade
15: FROM CHÂTEAUROUX TO SAINT-VULBAS
Mark Cavendish’s first victory in the Tour came in 2008, in Châteauroux (stage 5), 15 years, 11 months and 24 days before he scored his 35th victory. This is a new record when it comes to the longest timespan between a rider’s first and last victories. The former record had stood for more than a century: Jean Alavoine won in Toulouse in 1909 and in Nice in 1923, 13 years, 11 months and 22 days after his maiden victory.
69.4: CAVENDISH SPRINTS TO GLORY
After he perfectly navigated from wheel to wheel, Mark Cavendish kicked from 66.2 to 69.4 km/h into the last 200 metres of the day… Biniam Girmay went up to 69.7 km/h but it was too late to counter the Cav’s acceleration towards a record breaking 35th victory. Meanwhile, Mads Pedersen was doing 62.4 km/h when he crashed.
1: GIRMAY FOR AFRICA
Already a history maker with Eritrea’s first stage win in the Tour, Biniam Girmay claimed the green jersey with a place of 9th in Saint-Vulbas. He is the first rider from Africa to lead the points standings in the Tour!
South Africa’s Daryl Impey made history with the Maillot Jaune in 2013 and Eritrea’s Daniel Teklehaimanot claimed the polka-dot jersey in 2015.
Riders from Asia, America, Europe and Oceania had already worn the green jersey.
55: CAV’ ON THE HEELS OF CIPO
With 55 Grand Tour stage wins (35 in the Tour, 17 in the Giro, 3 in La Vuelta), Mark Cavendish has the third highest tally ever behind Eddy Merckx, with a total of 65 (34, 25 and 6), and Mario Cipollini, 57 (12, 42 and 3).
39: THE ELDERS FIGHT BACK
At 39 years, 1 month and 12 days, Mark Cavendish is the 2nd oldest stage winner in history behind Pino Cerami, who won in Pau in 1963 at 41 years, 2 months and 3 days.
Cavendish is thus the oldest winner of a sprint and, with Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff, he embodies the oldest podium this century in a sprint: 34 years and 63 days old on average. This happens on the day after Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso recorded the youngest top-3 in a mountain stage this century.
5X5: DIVERSITY IN THE SPRINTS
The last 5 sprints in the Tour were won by 5 different riders: Mads Pedersen (last year in Limoges), Jasper Philipsen (Moulins 2023), Jordi Meeus (Paris 2023), Biniam Girmay (Turin 2024) and Mark Cavendish (Saint-Vulbas 2024). On the other hand, Jasper Philipsen had dominated the last 5 previous sprints, across the 2022 and 2023 editions.
1-2: PHILIPSEN DIDN’T SPOIL CAVENDISH’S PARTY
With his 18th top-3 result in the Tour, Jasper Philipsen showed new glimpses of his speed after he couldn’t sprint for victory in Turin. In his last 11 Tour sprints, the Belgian has either finished 1st (6 times) or 2nd (5).
Considering all races, this is the 8th time Cavendish and Philipsen take the first two places, and the 3rd time in the Tour. Out of these, Philipsen only beat Cavendish once: last year in Bordeaux, when he prevented the Manx Missile from claiming already his 35th.
20: KRISTOFF BACK IN THE TOP-3
A crash in the finale of the stage didn’t prevent Alexander Kristoff from returning to the bunch and claiming his 20th top-3 result in the Tour (4 wins, 9 x 2nd , 7 x 3rd ), the first since he was 3rd on the Champs-Élysées in 2022.
9: CAVENDISH, ASTANA QAZAQSTAN’S LIGHT
Astana Qazaqstan’s year started with two early victories, thanks to Harold Tejada and Mark Cavendish in Colombia, but their tally was only up to 8 wins, and none in the UCI WorldTour, when they lined up in Florence for the start of the Tour de France. The team made no secret leading Cavendish towards the record for most stage wins in the Tour was their main ambition of the season. And they’re done it!
