UTRECHT, Netherlands (Reuters) – Mark Cavendish’s daughter thinks he looks skinny but the Manx Missile will be hoping to bulk up on Tour de France stage wins when the 102nd edition of the race begins today.The 30-year-old Etixx-QuickStep rider is third on the all-time list for stage wins on the Tour with 25, three behind Bernard Hinault and nine shy of the great Eddy Merckx.
But for a high-speed crash in the first stage of last year’s race, in his mother’s home town of Harrogate, Briton Cavendish might already be closer to 30 victories.
Not that he is greedy, just excited to be in prime condition for the Tour, a year after not even making it to stage two.
“My three-year-old daughter, Delilah, just said, ‘Daddy, you look skinny.’ So I couldn’t care less what my team directors say before @letour now,” the 30-year-old said on Twitter.
Talking to reporters in Utrecht yesterday, close to where today’s Prologue begins in the historic Dutch city of Utrecht, Cavendish said while he wants to add to his haul he already has a career’s worth of wins, many times over.
“I’ve won stages in most of the Tours I’ve competed in and I’d like to add more than one stage to that haul,” he said.
“But winning one stage in the Tour in a career makes a rider’s career, let alone one a year.”
Marcel Kittel, the man who sped to victory in the Tour’s first stage last year as Cavendish lay in agony on the ground with a shoulder injury that meant he had to abandon, is missing from the start list in Utrecht because of ill-health.
“There are 200 riders on the start line and take any one of them away and it increases my chances of winning a stage,” Cavendish said, downplaying Kittel’s absence.
Asked whether he would miss having his fierce rival on his shoulder in the bunch sprints, Cavendish simply said: “I’ve missed the Tour much more. Sitting watching it at home last year after crashing was not easy.”

By Martyn Herman