Cavendish equals sprint win record

WITH no help in Tournai earlier this month, mark Cavendish won by a wheel rim. With moderate help yesterday, the manx missile (left) took the breath away from all who witnessed him equalling andre Darrigade’s record of 22 stage wins by a sprinter in the Tour de France. Cav has now also won the same number of stages as Lance armstrong, a seven-time winner. nipping out of the slipstream of Luis Leon Sanchez and nicolas Roche, Cav accelerated to the line in a manner befitting the world champion’s rainbow jersey that he wears and his position as favourite for the Olympic road race a week today. and to think he practically had to beg Team Sky sports director Sean Yates for support in the prestage meeting. Yates told his riders to have an easy day, only for Bradley Wiggins to pay Cavendish the respect he deserves as the world’s fastest cyclist. Cav said: ‘I was like, “Can I have a sprint, please? Just let me have a sprint”. Then Brad piped up, “Yes, we’ll work for a sprint”. You saw the guys there at the end. ‘Three weeks in, I’m incredibly proud to be part of a team that is going to win the yellow jersey, but I’m not doing what I can do as an individual rider. It’s like Wayne Rooney playing in defence. You can still win a match, but you can’t do your part to the best of your ability. This gives me confidence that I’ve come out of this Tour in good enough condition for the Olympics, especially in the fashion that I did it.’