ome on now, people, be honest. Hands up, who had written Cavendish off, who poo-pooed the idea that the old bloke of the sprint field could muster up the skill, speed and tactics to take not just another stage at the Tour but his 35th? I'll lead the charge. I'll admit it, as much as I hoped he would, I figured that he had a slim chance; after all, today's sprint field is deep, and that's before you get past the all-dominant Philipsen. But what a win. Cav of old, or is that old Cav of old?
So there we have it, 35 wins, one more than that living Belgian legend, not that we're counting or anything. The run-up and planning for this "project" by Cavendish and the Astana has been in the works since he crashed out of last year's Tour. Along with the team and bike sponsor, Wilier has been planning things, too. The Italian company knew they had to deliver their latest and greatest aero bike for the Manx man, and as we all know, looking good gives you at least that extra 5%. And Wilier delivered on the front.
Cav's bike for the Tour is a custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR, a bike that looks like it's just got back from taking part in the Hindu festival Hindi. We got to get our paws on the bike in the build up to the Grand Depart. While shhoting the beautie we managed to speak with the designer behind the bikes paint scheme, as well as Cav's old lead-out man Mark Renshaw, about his role at Astana now. Oh, and can we forget, we just happened to collar Mark, too.
If you're expecting Tour stage talk, you'll be disappointed, but if you're after sharks in formaldehyde and sheep cut in half talk, fancy shoe talk and tech talk, then you're in luck.
Trust us, you'll understand! Just hit that play button, and it'll all become clear.
And before you hit that play button, I'd just like to point out that that Pogacar character who congratulated Cav pretty damn swiftly after his stage win was only nine years old when Mark took his first Tour stage win back in 2008. You can thank me later for making you feel just that little older!
Enjoy