Mark Cavendish wins his 33rd stage as Pogacar retains yellow

Mark Cavendish sprinted past other riders on Stage 10 on Tuesday 7 July to win his 33rd Tour de France stage, one shy of Eddy Merckx’ record.

Mark Cavendish netted his 33rd Tour de France stage win as he sprinted past other riders at the finish line at Valence on Tuesday 7 July.

This takes the British rider to being one short of matching Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx’ record.

Cavendish has previously won Stage 4 and Stage 6 during this year’s Tour de France.

Stage 10 took place after a rest day for all riders and  started in Albertville with Tadej Pogacar, last year’s Tour de France winner, holding yellow.

Seven riders had not made it to the finish line of Stage 9 within the cut off time allotted and therefore did not start Stage 10.

Hugo Houle and  Tosh Van der Sande got into a breakaway but as the stage was mostly flat terrain, the two were eventually caught by the peloton closer to the finish line.

Mathieu van der Poel who held the yellow jersey for most of the first week, pulled out after Stage 8 once Pogacar took the lead, to rest and prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Mark Cavendish’s place amongst the current Tour de France standings

Mark Cavendish is not chasing the overall race lead but is maintaining his lead on the sprint points classification and the green jersey.

Pogacar also retains the white jersey for the best young rider while Nairo Quintana retains the polka dot jersey for the mountain climb classification.

Hugo Houle was awarded the most combative rider for the stage.

While Pogacar maintains his race lead, the Western Australian Ben O’Connor remains in second place, two minutes behind him after winning Stage 9 with Rigoberto Uran in third place, five minutes behind him.