The emotional shout of “Go Mark!’ in different languages from inside the Astana-Qazaqstan team was the first sign that history was about to be made at the Tour de France on Wednesday afternoon.
I was stood outside the team bus with a few other media, watching the final kilometres on our mobile phones. But we were a few seconds behind the live French television images on the bus and could imagine what was happening.
Then the shouts of encouragement became even louder and even more emotional. Then they exploded in celebration when Mark Cavendish won the sprint in Saint-Vulbas.
The Manxman had won his 35th stage at the Tour de France, to go one better than Eddy Merckx. It was a moment of cycling history, one that often seemed like it might never happen but one that Cavendish and everyone at Astana-Qazaqstan always believed in.
Everyone in the team bus roared in celebration and banged the roof and windows. The bus’ horn rang out like church bells, telling everyone that they had won. ‘Project 35’ had been accomplished.
Team manager Alexander Vinokourov was the first to come off the bus. He could hardly hold back his emotions. He quickly grabbed a bike to ride to the finish area. He interrupted Cavendish’s television interview to hug him and celebrate together.
Vinokourov and Cavendish have become surprisingly close in the last 18 months after the Kazakhstani manager invested and believed in the Manxman, when most other teams had written him off.
On the day Cyclingnews revealed that Chinese carbon fibre producer XDS Carbon-Tech would invest significantly in the team with the goal of creating a ‘super team’, Cavendish and Astana-Qazaqstan delivered. The stars aligned in a moment of success and no doubt helped create the future of the team.
As Cavendish celebrated with his teammates and then his family at the finish line, other riders rode by and offered congratulations.
“To continue to do what he does at his age – he's 39, and everyone says you get slower as you get older – he's proven that wrong, really. It's unbelievable what he does, and I'm super happy for him,” Geraint Thomas said.
The Astana-Qazaqstan race cars arrived next, blowing their horns and shouting in celebration.
Vasilis Anastopoulos returned as Cavendish’s coach this season having previously worked with him at QuickStep when he was so successful in 2021. Cavendish has spent more time with him at races and at his Greek home for specific training than he has spent at home with his family. Nobody knows what Cavendish has overcome, even in recent months, like Anastopoulos.
He was understandably in tears.
“You saw today why he’s a big champion,” Anastopoulos said.
“He’s 39 years old. Most of the guys thought he wasn’t going to make it. He proved them wrong one time in 2021, and then he proved everybody wrong again in 2024. He’s a phenomenon. I can tell you it was not an easy one, but we never stopped believing that this could come true.”
‘Project 35’ is completed but Anastopoulos, like Cavendish, is still hungry for more success and more emotions like today.
“We’re not going to stop,” Anastopoulos said.
“Tomorrow is another chance. We want to win as much as possible. That’s why we cannot stop. Our goal is to reach Nice and celebrate there. We want two or three more wins before he can stop."
“He's just a fine wine. He just gets better and better”
Mark Renshaw hugged Anastopoulos and the other staff members after jumping out of the team. Stefano Zainini was a successful sprinter during his own career but was overcome with emotion. He was the first directeur sportif to work with Cavendish at Astana-Qazaqstan and always believed he could get back to his best and win a Tour de France stage.
“He's just a fine wine. He just gets better and better,” Renshaw said of Cavendish.
“The team had so much confidence in him, and they've had confidence all year. Vino backed this project, and we signed great riders.
“We've changed the team to look after him, to get him possible to win and he has just been mega committed. I don't know how many days he's been with his family, but this year it's not many. That's the kind of commitment you need as a bike rider.”
As Cavendish completed the stage winner’s podium ceremony and did a series of interviews, other team vehicles and buses drove past on their way to their hotels. Many stopped to high-five and congratulate the Astana-Qazaqstan staff. Everyone working behind the scenes in professional cycling teams knows how special major victories, especially historic victories, are. There was respect and shared happiness.
The crowds gradually reduced as the Astana-Qazaqstan bus waited for Cavendish to arrive. Some of his teammates headed to their hotel by car, and most of the media headed back to the Tour de France press centre.
I and a few other journalists decided to wait to see Cavendish return. It felt the right thing to do. I have followed much of Cavendish's career, from his Tour de France debut in 2007 in London, his Milan-San Remo victory in 2009 and many others since then. It seemed like a moment to capture, to savour and to share.
An hour or so after the stage, everyone looked down the road towards the finish area, waiting for Cavendish to arrive.
We saw his wife Peta and their children walking towards the bus, and then Cavendish joined them, beaming with happiness and pride.
“I'm so happy. I'm so happy for him, I'm happy for Vasilis (Anastopoulos), I'm happy for Vino, I'm happy for all of the people in this last couple of years that have got on board and committed the same way that he has,” Peta told Cyclingnews and the Cycling Podcast.
“On Monday, when everyone was saying: ‘Why has he come back? He's too old, he should have stopped last year, have some dignity, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was just like: ‘Say a bit louder!’ Because Mark can be a pain in the arse, but if you say that he can't, then he probably will.”
Peta and Mark have overcome many obstacles together, especially in recent years. She understands his love for cycling and why he had to race on in 2024 to try to win a 35th stage at the Tour de France.
“He loves the Tour de France and I never wanted him to leave the Tour in the back of an ambulance like last year,” Peta explained, the emotion filling her voice.
When Cavendish finally reached the team bus, he hugged Anastopoulos intensely. Anastopoulos quietly said to him, ‘We did it, we did it…’
Cavendish also hugged Renshaw, once his loyal leadout man, now his loyal directeur sportif. Soon on the bus they posed for a selfie. Cavendish held up five fingers, Renshaw three, signifying 35 victories.
Project 35 has been accomplished.
