British sprinter Mark Cavendish, who holds the record with 34 stage victories in the Tour de France and 11 in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey, will compete in the Tour for the fifth time.
ISTANBUL (IGFA) – Cavendish, who started his professional racing career in 2005 and won the World Champion title in 2011, suffered great difficulties for four years after being diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus in 2017 and clinical depression in 2018.
Cycling circles thought the Cavendish era was over. One of the greatest sprinters the sport has ever seen, Mark signaled he may have run his last race after finishing 74th in Gent-Wevelgem in October 2020. But his passion for excitement and adrenaline drew him back to racing. In January 2021, he returned to the peloton and began to fight for his “second spring” with the strong Deceuninck-QuickStep team.
Cavendish, whose last stage victory was in February 2018, won 4 stages in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey in 2021, showing that he had returned to his great passion. In 2021, at the age of 36, he got the chance to compete in the Tour de France again. Cavendish, who won 3 stages in the Tour de France, increased the number of stage victories to 34, surpassing Eddy Merckx’s record. The British cyclist, who finished a total of 11 stages in the Presidential Tour of Turkey in 2014, 2015 and 2021 in the first place, is the most stage winner in Turkey together with Andre Greipel. Cavendish will compete for the stage record holder title in TUR 2023.