Cay to head to altitude for Tour record bid

Newly appointed Astana-Qazaqstan performance chief tells Tom Thewlis training programme for Manxman needs to be less race-focused

- Tom Thewlis

Mark Cavendish is set to undergo a revamped less race-focused training programme ahead of the Tour de France in 2024, according to Astana-Qazaqstan’s newly appointed head of performance.

Last week, Astana confirmed that Cavendish had inked a contract extension for one year as he looks to break the record for the most Tour de France stage wins.

The team has been rebuilding in an effort to better support Cavendish’s goal. Star leadout men Michael Mørkøv and Davide Ballerini have joined from Soudal-Quick Step along with Greek expro turned coach Vasilis Anastopoulos, who joins as head of performance. All three were instrumental in Cavendish’s resurgent 2021 Tour performance.

Speaking to CW, Anastopoulos outlined how he would get Cavendish ready to win at the Tour at the age of 39: “My personal idea is that I have proposed to do some more altitude camps and less racing than this year.”

At the time of going to press, Cavendish had raced 68 days in 2023, including 58 before the start of the Tour.

He added: “We also have to work on his lead-out train. I still believe Mørkøv is the best leadout guy in the world as the last man. So now as well as Cees Bol and Cav we have Ballerini and Mørkøv. It’s the three guys who did all the four wins in 2021. Now we also have Yevgeniy Fedorov and Ide Schelling. I’m very optimistic, I think it’s going to work.”

Anastopoulos said had already sketched out plans to take Cavendish to Colombia for altitude training, which he had outlined to Alexandre Vinokourov and the rest of the Astana management.