Vasilis Anastopoulos said: “We’re not going to chase down the record of Eddy Merckx because that’s something he has never talked about. It’s always around the media and journalists who make those questions. For me, personally, I’m really happy that Cav is able to start on Saturday.
“If he wins a stage, chapeau, it would be great. If he doesn’t, nobody’s going to blame him because he came up from nowhere. He hadn’t won anything for the last three years and went through some really bad moments, he fought with depression, he almost quit last year but everybody knows the story.
“To me, personally, as his coach, I’m already happy he has five wins this year. He proved that he can be up there again with the best guys. He’s not finished yet.”
Mark Cavendish started his winning streak at the Tour of Turkey. He won four stages there and went on to win the final stage of the Belgium Tour against some of the biggest world’s names. However, he didn’t win a stage at the Tour since 2016.
The Manxman isn’t expected to change that in the first few stages. Those are more suited to the likes of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) or Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step). The first real chance will present itself on stage four, a pan flat course running 150.4 km.
Will Mark Cavendish beat his rivals? We sure cannot wait to find out.
