Mission accomplished for Mark Cavendish. The Briton came to the Tour of Colombia this week to open his account this season, after three weeks of training at altitude with his Astana team. The first opportunity was missed on Tuesday with the victory of Fernando Gaviria (Cavendish 3rd). The second was the good one, this Friday in Zipaquira, where the 2011 world champion (38 years old) won against the Colombian sprinter and Nelson Soto (Petrolike).
This is his first victory since the 2023 Giro, he who then suffered a serious injury in the Tour de France, fell the day after a 2nd place in Bordeaux and suffered a broken collarbone. And his first on Colombian soil, a country where the man who is living his last professional season before retirement had never raced.
Unlike the finale to Duitama, the sky blue train from Astana this time worked perfectly to propel the “Cav”. Michael Morkov, usual pilot fish, did a very hard job from 500 m onwards, then it was the Dutchman Cees Bol, already present last season, who turned into pilot fish to launch Cavendish at full speed . And the co-record holder for stage victories on the Tour, keeping his trajectory well, resisted the return of Gaviria, who appeared along the barriers.
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With this first success in 2024, it makes seventeen different seasons that Cavendish has won at least one victory (163 in total in his career). In 21 professional seasons.
Before this smooth finish in the town of Egan Bernal, the day had been quiet for the general riders, the difficulties being rather at the start of the stage, and the Colombian Rodrigo Contreras (NU Colombia) retained his yellow jersey.
Before the queen stage on Saturday towards the Alto del Vino, where the 30 kilometers of ascent (at an average of 5.7%) will take the peloton to more than 2,800 meters of altitude and will create gaps “which do not will not be counted in seconds but in minutes,” warns Bernal, a regular here.
