Mark Cavendish was a satisfied man that he had reached the top of the last col in time. He crossed the finish line last, at 32’06” from Tadej Pogacar, but within the time limit: “It could have been a little easier today, but I burned myself in that intermediate sprint.”
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“We knew that Team BikeExhange would do everything they could for those points there,” Cavendish reflects on the intermediate sprint. “Luckily the group was gone with Julian Alaphilippe.”
“And then came perhaps one of my worst climbs in the Tour de France: the Tourmalet. I don’t know how many times I’ve climbed that col. Maybe ten times in the Tour, but every time it’s an impossible battle with myself. I was very emotional when I crossed the finish line in Luz Ardiden, because the last big obstacles before Paris seem to be gone.”
“I don’t know if we’ll sprint tomorrow. We’ll try. But it is again 207 kilometers long. So hard… I long to be back in the peloton with the boys”, says Cav, who has already added four pieces and can pass Eddy Merckx on Friday afternoon with a 35th Tour stage victory.
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