Mark Cavendish: Astana Qazaqstan presents ‘perfect opportunity’ to win sprints as Tour de France bid looms

Mark Cavendish has branded new team Astana Qazaqstan the “perfect opportunity” as he seeks to return to the top of cycling aged 37.

Cavendish’s move to the Kazakh-based outfit in January came about after he departed Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, where he won four more stages at the Tour de France in 2021 to tie the all-time record, only to be snubbed the following year.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Eurosport’s Adam Blythe, Cavendish said he was excited to be part of Astana’s transition to sprints, with the team previously forging their reputation on general classification bids at Grand Tours.

“Me coming to Astana, I don’t just want a job. If things aren’t right it’s not going to happen,” said Cavendish.

“Astana’s the perfect opportunity to win in sprints. It’s something the team hasn’t done before, but my god, they’ve got the capacity to do it. It’s really exciting.”

That prompted a late move for Cavendish, who is joined in the Astana ranks by Dutch speedster Cees Bol.

Despite the team’s inexperience in sprints, Cavendish is already thrilled at how his new team-mates have adapted to the new challenge. The Manx Missile is currently competing at the UAE Tour, having had his first sprint outing at the Tour of Oman earlier in February.

Reflecting on his first sprint for the team on Stage 1 in Oman, Cavendish said: “I tell you, I finished 21st, I could have rectified the situation but still not won the race…

“But the sprint we did in Oman felt like a victory afterwards. Some of the lads I hadn’t met before, we hadn’t trained together.”

On his new young team-mates, he continued: “The fortunate side is that they’re really quick learners, the ones I did spend time with in the training camp. It’s super nice. I don’t profess to getting everything right, I don’t know everything.”

Cavendish also spoke about refusing to classify himself as a “leader”, insisting that each cog in the sprint train was equally important.

“There are a lot of sprinters that see themselves as leaders, and everyone has to work for them. I’ve never seen a sprint like that.

“The sprinter is just the last part of that system. He or she has to get it as right as everyone else, but every single piece of that sequence has a knock-on effect.

“If they do it right or wrong, it has a knock-on effect, not just on the person after them but everyone after that.”

Cavendish is currently tied with Belgian great Eddy Merckx on 34 stage wins at the Tour de France.

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