Monday's stage of the 2023 Tour de France was Mark Cavendish's first chance to claim his 35th win after one of the toughest starts in recent memory.

Unfortunately for the Astana Cazacstan rider, it was not to be today. A sixth-place finish in Bayonne in southwestern France means that we will have to wait for a fairy tale, but the 38-year-old was fast in the final 200 meters, executed the team plan well, and showed promise.

"I'm happy with this," a smiling freshman Manxman began, after refusing to take questions until he had showered. Of course I'd love to win, but I'm happy with the way the guys ran. I'm also happy with the speed.

"When you look at the teams at the front, there are teams that are absorbing more and more and doing it every day, and the plan was to put me at the front two kilometers before the U-turn," he said. The guys committed to it and executed it perfectly. So the job was actually done. Now I just have to find the right wheels.

Cavendish is not a leading sprinter, but he has experience as a manxman and an old helper in Mark Renshaw. However, today's stage had a fast descent before a 200-meter climb to the line in Bayonne.

"I'm happy with my speed," he said. I don't think I could have made the top 10 with 500m to go."

"It suits a guy like Jonathan Milan [Bahrain Victorious] or Wout Van Aert [Jumbo Visma] who has a lot of torque, who can put on 56T gears and make it run, like you can put on 56T gears and make it run.

"The next 100m after that climb was almost like a sprint for me. It gave me confidence for the next day."

Wearing his new Willyer bike, new Nike shoes, and new Rimmer helmet for the race, with his Monster cap and Oakley glasses, this perfectly sponsor-loyal Manxman was perfectly He appeared relaxed. His geographic location may have been confusing, but the pressure to win a stage in the final Tour de France seemed nonexistent.

Netflix's cameras and microphones hovered throughout his interview, and today it was revealed that he will appear in season two of the documentary Unchained. The pressure may have been kept at bay by the calming influence of his new "sprint and lead-out consultant," Mark Renshaw.

"He helped me a lot. Not just the final, but the last 25 km of climbs and little kicks. He knew the length of the climb, how to keep going up, where to go up before the roundabout, etc., so that helped a lot. 21]

"I think what he said was right. Luis Leon (Sanchez) was always with me, and Cees (Bol) was always with me. I knew Alpecin (Deceuninck) would nail it and I was happy to be with them."

Looking ahead to the rest of the race, Cavendish has five more chances to win a stage and break a record. The first of those chances comes tomorrow.

"Tomorrow I will try. Tomorrow is a different stage. I've never finished a motor race circuit in the Tour. But in the Tour de France it might be a little different. We'll have to see and I think it will be something new for everyone."

"I'm quite looking forward to it. In fact, it will be easier than today. I think the peloton is looking forward to a flat day tomorrow because it wasn't that easy today yet. Hopefully the wind will be okay too."

"I'm confident in my condition and in the team's condition.