Mark Cavendish won stage 13 of this year’s Tour de France to equal Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins.
Here, the PA news agency assesses how Cavendish compares to to the great Belgian.
The contents of Merckx’s wardrobe, though, are what truly set him apart from Cavendish.
While the British rider finished with the green jersey in 2011 – and leads the points standings again this year – Merckx was a serial winner and is viewed among the Tour’s all-time greats.
On his debut in 1969, the Belgian won the yellow jersey as the overall race winner, the green as top sprinter and the King of the Mountains and combination classifications as well as the combativity award – he remains the only rider ever to sweep the major classifications.
He went on to win the yellow jersey in his first five Tour appearances up to 1974, opting not to compete in 1973, and added further green jerseys in 1971 and 1972 and the 1970 mountains classification.
Even on his two remaining appearances, he finished second and sixth in the general classification – Cavendish, for all his sprint pedigree including three runner-up finishes in the points, has never finished in the top 100 overall and has completed only six of his 12 Tours before this year.
