Mark Cavendish's thrilling race to the coveted Green Jersey following the final sprint of the Tour de France for the third year in a row on Sunday placed the rider into the history books as Britain's first winner of a Tour jersey since Scot Robert Millar in 1984, and collected his 20th Tour stage win.Cavendish had managed to become the first British rider in the history of the race to be crowned winner of the classification based on points awarded for the intermediate and final sprints.
AAs Matt Goss peeled off at the end of the Rue de Rivoli followed by Mark Renshaw angling across the Place de la Concorde only one outcome seemed possible on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday.
Cavendish has been described as a fountain of emotions, but is keen to express his joy in his success whilst giving equal weight to his gratitude towards the HTC‑Highroad team-mates who negotiate the position from which he produces the final burst of deadly acceleration.
He paid particular tribute to Bernie Eisel, the 30-year-old Austrian rider who has been the team's road captain and his room-mate on this Tour. "He's my best friend in the whole world," a typically effusive Cavendish said last week.
"But it's not just Bernie, it's all of the guys," he saidon Sunday night. During his struggles in the mountains, he said, "they could have been having an easier day but instead they're sitting up waiting for me and then towing me up to the gruppetto for the final climb, carrying bidons[water bottles] for me. They got me through this Tour."
To learn a little more of how his team-mates helped plot his route to that glorious finish in central Paris read this insightful article published in advance of the inevitable:
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