Mark Cavendish looked shattered after his win on the Tour de France on stage 13 today, saying after the victory he had "dug so deep" given how hot the day was and how hard the race had been over 220km of racing.
It was his fourth of this Tour and the 34th of his career, meaning he had today equaled the all-time Tour de France stage win record of Eddy Merckx.
Asked how he felt after breaking the record, a clearly
exhausted Cavendish said: “It’s tiring, I didn’t even think about it. I’m
afraid I’m so dead… 220km in that heat and that wind, that final.
“I went deep there, I went so deep there. The boys were
incredible, I can’t believe it. A lot of the day it didn’t feel like it would
happen, but I had to… because the guys were riding like they were.
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“I was so on the limit, you saw that at the end, when it
was slightly uphill,” he said, adding his lead out man Michael Mørkøv had “dragged”
him in a stage-winning position.
When asked again about equaling the record, Cavendish said:
“It’s just another win the Tour de France, it’s like my first one. I’ve won a
stage on the Tour de France, that’s what I dreamed of as a kid, that’s what I
dream of now.
“And I’ve worked so hard for it and I just hope that seeing a growth in cycling, especially in the UK, since I’ve started racing here at the Tour de France… If any one of my wins can inspire one of those kids to ride the Tour de France when they grow up, then that’s what means the most to me I think.”
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