Cavendish’s Quest to Break Merckx’s Record: A Look at the First Stage of Tour de France

Astana-Qazaqstan rider Mark Cavendish is currently making an attempt to break the record for the most stage wins in Tour de France history. The record he currently shares with Belgian legend Eddy Merckx. On the first stage of the Tour de France, Cavendish struggled and finished 39 minutes behind the peloton. The stage was won by Romain Bardet of DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, with his teammate Frank van den Broek coming in second after a breakaway.

Despite struggling on stage one, Cavendish managed to finish with his teammates and fellow sprinter Fabio Jakobsen of DSM with 10 minutes to spare before the elimination time limit. There has been speculation that Cavendish may have been ill during the challenging stage. However, he is expected to continue in what is believed to be his final Tour de France. The stage one results saw Bardet taking the victory, with van den Broek in second place. Other notable finishers included Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar, and Remco Evenpoel, all finishing within a few seconds of each other.