OLD STAGER WINS AGAIN
Cavendish revives Tour hopes with a sprint treble in Turkey
MARK CAVENDISH can dare to dream of a Tour de France encore after completing a hat-trick of sprint triumphs in Turkey.
After three years without a victory on the road due to illness, unverifiable form and jumping ship like a ferry commuter, the Manx missile pulled off his third stage win in as many days, and said: “It’s irrelevant how many in a row it is – it’s just nice to win again.”
Elbows out in a chaotic finish marred by a huge pile-up just behind the leading contenders, Cavendish powered past Dutch rival Jasper Philipsen in the last 60 yards. And at 35, he is back to making bunch sprints look routine – like the supreme finisher who has won 30 stages on Le Tour since 2008.
On the 114.3-mile fourth stage on the Tour of Turkey from Alanya to Kemer, Cavendish delivered the 800th victory in the history of the Deceuninck-QuickStep team.
It was handsome payback for the career lifeline they offered him last winter when he was contemplating retirement, and it was his best run since he won four on the bounce in Qatar eight years ago – during his first spell with QuickStep. Philipsen was released too soon for the slightly uphill finish into a headwind with around 300 yards to go as the massive crash unfolded on both sides of the road. Cavendish just bided his time before launching his late charge.
Although some of the Tour de France’s top sprinters are not in Turkey, Cavendish’s return to form increases the prospect of him enjoying a curtain call in the peloton at the Grand Depart in Brest on June 26.
And if the all-time record of 34 held by Belgian legend Eddy Merckx, left, seems likely to remain out of reach, it is no longer so fanciful to speculate that Cavendish could close the gap. With mountainous terrain around the corner, there is no chance of Cavendish making it four in Turkey, and he would expect to lose the leader’s jersey on the road to Elmali. Although he is now one behind Andre Greipel’s record of 11 wins in Turkey, British cycling’s pocket rocket said he could not compare his current form with 2014, when he won four stages in the same race. He shrugged: “I’ve not got a clue because I never had time off then. I won back in Alanya back in those days and I won here, too but, in all honesty, I wouldn’t know.”