Less than a week away from the Olympic road race, in which he will start as the firm favourite to repeat Nicole Cooke's Beijing feat of giving Britain a first gold medal, Mark Cavendish provided further proof of his absolute supremacy in a sprint with his fourth consecutive victory on the Champs Elysées in the final stage of the Tour de France. An unprecedented feat, it was rendered even more special by the achievement of becoming the first man to win the Tour finale wearing the world champion's rainbow jersey.
Yet again he attacked the Champs Elysées in a different style. This time, led out by Bradley Wiggins down the Rue de Rivoli and across the Place de la Concorde by Edvald Boasson Hagen at the end of the eighth and the final circuit, he went to the front at the very bottom of the boulevard he calls "the most beautiful in the world", powering up the cobbled incline for 400 metres – double the length of his usual final burst – before crossing the line with a length and a half separating him from the next man.
"I planned to go at about 300," he said. "Last year there was a headwind but today there was a back-crosswind and I knew I could do that. Then we came out of the last corner so fast that I thought I'd use my acceleration now and try to distance the other guys. It was a gamble but it paid off."
Although last week L'Equipe named him the greatest sprinter in the race's history, he did not feel he fully justified it until he had exceeded the total of 22 stages won by André Darrigade, the French fastman of the 1950s. Yesterday he passed Darrigade's mark, and said he now feels "secure" with the award.
The identity of the rider in second place would have pleased him, too: it was Peter Sagan, the 22-year-old Slovak prodigy who had secured the green jersey that Cavendish himself became the first British rider to win last year, and which he had been unable to defend through his devotion to helping his team leader win the yellow jersey.
Wiggins's success, however, could mean that Cavendish's days with Sky are numbered. On Sunday Dave Brailsford, the team principal, who beat off interest from other teams last summer to sign the sprinter, appeared to accept as much. Cavendish won three stages this year to go with the 20 he picked up between 2008 and 2011 but he was never able to compete for the green jersey. Keeping his frustration in check was not an easy job for the volatile 27-year-old Manxman but he was prepared to help Wiggins in return for the support his friend had given him during the world championships last September.
"I wouldn't say Mark has been unhappy," Brailsford said, "but he's a prolific winner who has come to this event and dominated it. I think when he forgoes some of that, it's always going to be a challenge for him. If he wasn't frustrated a little by that, you would want to know why."
If it seems unlikely that a man with 23 Tour stage wins will be happy to continue existing on the restricted rations he accepted this year, it is equally hard to imagine Sky, having won the Tour's general classification, redesigning their strategy in order to concentrate on putting Cavendish back in the points leader's jersey, as his former team did.
So far the most Cavendish himself has said on the subject came in a press conference after his victory in Brive-la-Gaillarde on Friday afternoon. Asked if he would be happy to stay, he reduced his answer to the bare minimum. "I'm currently under contract for three years with Team Sky," he said, his expression closing like the zip on his rainbow jersey.
Brailsford was uncompromising on the future of the man he signed at a salary of £2.4m a year. "It's quite clear we'll be coming back next year to win this race again, hopefully to defend it with Bradley," he said. "That's what this team is all about and I'm sure that we'll sit down with Mark and see how he feels about that. He's a prolific British winner and we would love to have a prolific British winner in the team.
"But the bottom line is that we will still be a GC [general classification] team and if he felt or if it was felt that he wants a dedicated team around him, then he is quite within his rights to do that. There wouldn't be an issue about it. But we are very proud to have him in Team Sky. He is a fantastic champion and long may that continue."
So now Cavendish carries his lengthy run of good form to London, where Wiggins will be among his five-strong team. There was barely time to celebrate the triumph on a stage that has become his personal property.
"For me, this race is everything," he said. "I'll be back to try to make it five next year."
