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Mark Cavendish is back: the Manx Missile earns 31st Tour de France victory

Fugitive Van Moer caught 150 metres from the line

June 29, 2021
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There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Mark Cavendish won his 31st Tour de France victory on Tuesday, five years after his last win. It was edge of your seat stuff, with fugitive Brett Van Moer getting caught with 150 metres to race. Cavendish returned to Deceuninck-Quick Step this season and has had six triumphs. He assumes the green jersey lead from teammate Julian Alaphilippe, who gave Deceuninck-Quick Step its first win on Saturday. Mathieu van der Poel kept the race lead.

Cavendish and Alaphilippe embrace after the finish.

You can watch the 108th Tour de France at FloBikes.

The Course

As the 108th Tour de France headed out of Brittany, it would do so on 150 km of flat roads. It looked set for a bunch sprint finish, and hopefully a straightforward one without carnage.

Riders stopped just after the neutralized zone to protest what they see as yesterday’s dangerous stage. The riders’ association, the CPA, issued a statement before the stage asking for negotiations with the UCI and race stakeholders to improve their safety. They rolled the first 10 km slowly.

Primož Roglič revealed extensive wounds and subsequent bandaging from his crash yesterday .

There were no categorized climbs and obviously the day was going to end in a bunch sprint, so there wasn’t much motivation beyond flying the team flags for fugitives. A duo jumped out early to provide the stage rabbits.

With 15 km to go and the peloton closing in, Brett Van Moer (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal) dropped his breakmate and went into time trial mode. Five kilometres later, Van Moer held a 1:04 gap.

In the final 4 km Van Moer’s teammates went to the front to disrupt the chase. With 3 km to race, the Belgian had 33 seconds. At the red kite, 12 seconds.

The catch came with only 150 metres to race, with Jasper Philipsen taking the lead, but the Manx Missile came by him just before the line.

Cavendish was in shock after his win, very emotional to triumph again at the Tour.

Wednesday marks the first big GC sort-out that’s not from crashes, a gently rolling, 27.2 km time trial.

2021 Tour de France Stage 4
1) Mark Cavendish (Great Britain/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 3:20:17
2) Nacer Bouhanni (France/Arkea-Samsic) s.t.
3) Jasper Philipsen (Belgium/Alpecin-Fenix) s.t.
21) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) s.t.

2021 Tour de France GC
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) 16:19:10
2) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:08
3) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) +0:31
52) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +6:04
80) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +11:03
82) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +11:18