{"id":184277,"date":"2021-06-24T15:09:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T15:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=184277"},"modified":"2021-06-24T15:09:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T15:09:47","slug":"mark-cavendish-will-not-go-for-eddy-merckxs-record-at-the-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/24\/mark-cavendish-will-not-go-for-eddy-merckxs-record-at-the-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Cavendish Will Not Go for Eddy Merckx\u2019s Record at the Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, the defending champ of the \u0160koda Green Jersey, Sam Bennett, is not fit enough to race at the 2021 Tour de France. Deceuninck \u2013 Quick-Step GM, Patrick Lefevere, therefore had to choose a different sprinter from the team\u2019s ranks. And to the delight of many, he pointed the finger at Mark Cavendish. The Manxman will make his return to the Tour for the first time since 2018 after a series of promising results in recent months. However, as his coach pointed out in an interview for the Tour de Greaves Cycling Show<\/a>, he will not chase down the legendary Eddy Merckx\u2019s record of 34 stage victories. Cavendish currently sits in second place with 30 wins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vasilis Anastopoulos said: “We\u2019re not going to chase down the record of Eddy Merckx<\/a> because that\u2019s something he has never talked about. It\u2019s always around the media and journalists who make those questions. For me, personally, I\u2019m really happy that Cav is able to start on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Eddy<\/a>
Cavendish will not go for Merckx’s record this year. \u00a9 Profimedia, Roger Viollet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“If he wins a stage, chapeau, it would be great. If he doesn\u2019t, nobody\u2019s going to blame him because he came up from nowhere. He hadn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

“To me, personally, as his coach, I\u2019m already happy he has five wins this year. He proved that he can be up there again with the best guys. He\u2019s not finished yet.”<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>
Cavendish at the tart of the Grote Prijs Vermarc Sport men elite cycling race. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2019s names. However, he didn\u2019t win a stage at the Tour since 2016.<\/p>\n

The Manxman isn\u2019t 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 \u2013 Quick-Step). The first real chance will present itself on stage four, a pan flat course running 150.4 km.<\/p>\n

Will Mark Cavendish beat his rivals? We sure cannot wait to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, the defending champ of the \u0160koda Green Jersey, Sam Bennett, is not fit enough to race at the 2021 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":184276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[5389,954,1887,461,381,433,5421],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-184277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2021-tour","tag-eddy-merckx","tag-julian-alaphilippe","tag-mark-cavendish","tag-peter-sagan","tag-tour-de-france","tag-vasilis-anastopoulos","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nMark Cavendish Will Not Go for Eddy Merckx\u2019s Record at the Tour<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unfortunately, the defending champ of the \u0160koda Green Jersey, Sam Bennett, is not fit enough to race at the 2021 Tour de France. 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