Astana Qazaqstan have released a detailed behind-the-scenes video looking inside 'Project 35' and their pursuit of a record-breaking Tour de France stage win with Mark Cavendish.
In the video posted to the team's YouTube page, they focus on moments leading up to Cavendish's winning moment on stage 5 into Saint-Vulbas, from his crash out of the 2023 Tour with a broken collarbone to his struggles in the heat on the opening stage of this year's race.
Cavendish broke the record he held alongside Eddy Merckx for winning the most stages of the Tour de France, with both on 34 prior to Asatan Qazaqstan's big day, when their investment to bring in a lead-out train, a coach and a DS that all knew how to get the best out of him got it right once more.
"I couldn't have hoped for, wished for, spending my time with better people than I have here," said Cavendish in the video as he celebrated on the team bus with team staff and his family.
"Thank you all for the belief, for every single minute you've all put into this."
The video features interviews with Cavendish himself, his wife Peta and directeur sportif and former last lead-out man Mark Renshaw. But the sprinter also sits down to talk with the core of his lead-out train, Cees Bol, Davide Ballerini and Michael Mørkøv after they helped him home on the torrid opening stage and delivered him to a spot where he had a chance at victory on stage 5.
There's a great look into tactics on the team bus, debriefs after the sprint stages and how the likes of Renshaw and Mørkøv coordinated the full team as leaders around the ultimate goal of Cavendish's triumph.
"Tour de France sprints aren't won in the last kilometres, they are won when you can have an easier day in the peloton and you've waited for me and just shepherded me," he said. "You can't imagine how special that is, nobody in real life can understand the bond that creates.
"The thanks I owe you for that, more than any lead-out, it's that shit goes above and beyond and that's where we win and lose and for that, I owe you for the rest of my life."
The video doesn't end with Cavendish's record-breaking victory and details the rest of Astana Qazaqstan's Tour, where their focus largely switched to bringing the Manxman back to Nice so he could finish the race, his final Tour.
With Mørkøv abandoning and time cuts being closely fought in the Alps, they had some tough days in the final two weeks but it all culminated in an emotional end to Cavendish's final lap around France at the race he cherished and championed most.
There were tears at the summit of the Col de la Couillole when he completed his last mountain stage and he got to enjoy the adoring crowds one last time in Nice, with the team boss who took a risk on signing him – Alexander Vinokourov – driving the car following him, before having his own moment on the podium as the race recognised him for his contribution to the Tour.
Cavendish is still due to retire from cycling at the end of the season, however, will still be seen in the peloton at the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium on November 10 and has said in recent weeks that he will remain in cycling in a management role.
Watch the near-40 minute behind-the-scenes video directed, filmed and edited by Michiel van der Meer on Astana's YouTube.
