Il Tour de France 2024 has classified eight stages as “flat”, therefore suitable for sprinters. These are the eight opportunities for Mark Cavendish to break the all-time record for victories in the Grande Boucle and thus detach Eddy Merckx. These are the stages that made him decide to postpone his retirement from racing. Eight occasions that not only Cav, but also his sporting director, have been affected by. Stefano Zanini, they are well aware.
Fewer sprinters?
The Astana-Qazaqstan He kept his eyes on the Tour presentation. More than anything to understand how real this record possibility could be. And the ground is there, maybe there will be time for the details, but In the meantime, we can start planning the “record mission”.
"We saw a few things," Zanini explains. "Overall, it's certainly a challenging Tour—in fact, I'd say pretty tough." This year, looking at it from the sprinters' point of view, Paris is missing and therefore there is no classic finish on the Champs-Elysees. The grand finale in Nice will be a time trial. This factor might discourage some sprinters. Someone might cut the rope early without the final goal. Then of course, if he's fighting for the green jersey, no, but someone else might think about not holding on until the end, especially with the Olympics following."
This last aspect could be a small card in favor of Cavendish. A few fast wheels could handle the Tour de France differently, especially since the Paris Olympics seems to be quite fast.
Eight stages
The fast sections start from the third and end at the 16th. And the ones in the middle are clearly not all for sprinters.
"I think," Zanini continues, "that the stages suitable for a sprint could be these: the third, Turin; the fifth, Saint Vulbas; the sixth, Dijon; the eighth, Colombey; the tenth, Saint-Amand Montrond; the twelfth, Villeneuve-sur-Lot; the thirteenth, Pau, and the sixteenth, Nimes."
To the eight flat sections identified by the Tour we would also add the hamlets of Troyes (9th stage) and that of Barcelonette (18th stage). The Tour classifies them as rolling, but overall they seem fast... at least on paper. But you know: the race is made by the riders, and maybe a breakaway will emerge even on one of those eight flat stages.
«For Cav, the third stage is already an important opportunity. The Piacenza-Turin route. It's completely flat. And it could be the goal. But every opportunity for fast stages is good and should be seized. As for the rest, we need to study them carefully; objectively, we don't yet have a precise picture of the arrivals and elevation changes. Maybe we'll do some reconnaissance during Paris-Nice to see if there are any stages that arrive close to the Tour's finish locations. We'll see..."
Cavendish has already won in two locations that will be reached next year: Nimes (in 2008) and Saint-Amand Montrond (in 2013). Maybe it's a small sign of destiny, maybe those arrivals are still ideal for him and his team.
The victory in Nimes was his fourth of 34 overall and his last of that Tour de France. His victory in Saint-Amand-Montrond, however, is interesting. That stage wasn't entirely flat. And in fact, that day, Mark finished ahead of Sagan (who wasn't just a sprinter) and a large group of climbers: Mollema, Fuglsang... And just think, Contador was seventh!
Of course. He's no longer the Cav who holds up like that on the climbs, but be careful about cutting him off early. Manzoni, another sports director of Astana, a few days ago He told us that the Englishman was not in bad shape with weight.
Motivation and serenity
This record is a “catch” in any case. We talk about it even in the group. And even within the group, the former world champion has fans. Elia Viviani, for example, is convinced that Cav can do it. That is motivated.
«I say that Elia is right – Zanini insists – Cav is super motivated and I think he has something extra this year. Something we also managed to give him. I think of his trainer Anastopoulos, of Morkov's arrival as a pacesetter and of the fact that he is already with us, Last year, he arrived at the end of December and found what was there. We couldn't do much. I think all this, taken together, can make him feel more at peace and more at peace."
«I think a significant train is being born: Besides Morkov, there's Bol, Ballerini... Important people, who when those opportunities arise will put themselves at his complete disposal, as we did this year before he crashed. And there might be a little less risk in controlling the race. The only thing I'd like is to be able to work well before the Tour, doing a lot of races together."
