Mark Cavendish won the seventh stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Friday, while countryman Chris Froome retained the overall lead as he bids to win the race for a second time. The Etixx-Quick Step rider ended his two-year wait for a 26th Tour de France win. He won by a bike length from Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in second and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in third.

"His watts are fine, I think, I don’t how much the others produce, but he’s absolutely there as he was before," Rolf Aldag, Etixx’s sport and development manager told VeloNews. "He’s there. We’ve seen him the week before in the British championships, that he’s good and strong."

Cavendish won his first stage win at the age of 23, during his second participation. "We all lose that freedom of the unknown when you don’t know what will happen in the Tour," added Aldag. "He knows everything now. He won 26 stages, everyone expects him to win here, so of course there’s more pressure on. When you are 23, an upcoming superstar, then it’s ‘Who cares'?'"