Tour de France stage 7: Can Mark Cavendish make history?

British rider shares the stage win record with Eddy Merckx, and hopes to go one better in Bordeaux.

Updated Aug 21, 2023 The VELO Team

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Stage 7 — Friday, July 7
Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux
Distance: 169.9km (105.6 miles)
Profile: Flat stage

Stage 7: A big opportunity for the sprinters

Virtually every stage finish in Bordeaux over the past four decades has been won by a sprinter. The last time the Tour came to this capital of sprinting, in 2010, Mark Cavendish was the winner, and he won that mass sprint so easily he turned around 50 meters from the line to see how far ahead he was!

Remarkably, 13 years later, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) has a solid chance of winning again in what would be a victory that would take him past the record 34 stages won by Eddy Merckx.

A breakaway is sure to develop on the flat roads of a stage that loops to the east of the Landes pine forest, along the Garonne River valley and past some Bordeaux vineyards.

Stage favorites: Cavendish vs the younger guns

Mark Cavendish won the final stage of the Giro d’Italia in Rome. Can he repeat his 2020 victory in Bordeaux and set the absolute record for Tour stage wins? (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images,)

Any attackers will surely be mopped up by the still-fresh sprinters’ teams before the 2-kilometer-long final straight along the riverside to the Place des Quinconces, which, at 30 acres, is regarded as the largest city square in France.

Cavendish, at age 38, will of course have fierce opposition from sprinters a decade younger than him. He will draw on the morale boost of his final day stage win in the Giro d’Italia, plus the call of that all-time Tour stage record, but the younger guns will be looking to spoil the party and land their own success.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has been the standout sprinter thus far in the race, taking stages three and four. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) are just some of those who will challenge.

CARCASSONNE, FRANCE – JULY 17: Jasper Philipsen is seeking to add to the two stage wins he landed in the 2022 Tour, plus two more he has taken this year. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

An air base, a famous politician and Ocaña’s old stomping ground

Known for the Constantin Rozanoff Air Base on the outskirts of the city, Mont-de-Marsan has big links to the French Air and Space Force. It is also the birthplace of former French prime minister Alain Juppé. Sport is a big passion in the city, with Stade Montois Club Omnisports the main sports club and rugby and football being very popular. The city has around 9,000 sports licensees, representing nearly 30 percent of its total population.

Cycling links are mostly around Luis Ocaña, who was the son of Spanish emigrants who settled in the town in 1957. He began racing with a local club, turned professional in 1968 and won the Vuelta a España two years later. He crashed out while wearing yellow in the 1971 Tour but returned in 1973 and won overall.

The city hosted stage starts of the Tour de France in 1960 and 1971, with Roger Rivière and Eddy Merckx triumphing in Pau and Bordeaux respectively. The latter is the stage finish again this time around. Indeed, with 81 stage appearances, the city has hosted the Tour more times than any other, Paris excluded.

It’s 13 years since the last finish there, when Cavendish triumphed. Other great sprinters who have sprayed the champagne in the city are Rik van Looy, André Darrigade, Walter Godefroot, Marino Basso, Freddy Maertens, Jan Raas, Eric Vanderaerden, Jean-Paul van Poppel, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Tom Steels, and Erik Zabel.

Anquetil and Rik Van Looy (R) and Jacques Anquetil in the 1963 Tour of Sardinia. Van Looy is one of many sprinters to win into Bordeaux. Republished with permission of VeloPress from “Shoulder to Shoulder: Bicycle Racing in the Age of Anquetil” from the Horton Collection.

Culture and food

Mont-de-Marsan’s historic sights include the Lacataye keep, fortified houses dating back to the 13th century, as well as four Romanesque houses of a similar age. Celebrated foods include Landes farm duck, one of eight products to be awarded the Landes Quality label, and reared following a very strict set of specifications.

Bordeaux is a Unesco World Heritage site, confirmed in 2007 as an outstanding urban ensemble. It was the first time that the Unesco World Heritage Committee had honored such an ensemble of this size. The city has many historical buildings, including Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096.

Famous foods include Bordeaux cannelé, a small cake in the shape of a fluted cylinder, with a soft and tender pastry, flavoured with rum and vanilla. It is baked in a mold originally made of copper, with this giving it a thin caramelized crust.