For those who died for freedom: Mark Cavendish honours D-Day after Utah Beach Tour de France win
The British cyclist beat German rival Marcel Kittel and Slovakian Peter Sagan to claim the yellow jersey after the opening stage of the French classic
Minutes after pulling on the yellow jersey for the first time in his award filled career, Mark Cavendish walked over to the Utah Beach Peace Monument and placed a white rose to commemorate the Allied landings in Normandy that took place there more than 70 years ago.
It was a memorable moment that crowned a day full of emotions for the British cyclist, who won a sprint at the end of the crash affected opening stage of the Tour de France and took the overall lead.
It was Cavendish’s 27th stage win in the French classic – third on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx (34) and Bernard Hinault (28) — but he had never won the opening leg, which is often a time trial.
Cavendish has already worn the leader’s jerseys at the Giro d’Italia and the Spanish Vuelta.
“It’s going be a special day tomorrow to ride a stage in yellow,” Cavendish said. “There was no better place to achieve this than Utah Beach where soldiers died for us.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to remember and respect not just those that fought and died on D-Day but fought and died across all the wars and brought freedom to the Western world.”